THE RED V NOSTALGIA THREAD

[baggygreen man]

There are some of us on this forum that grew up watching the Dragons, the mighty Red V decades before what was a sad time for us in '99. I refer to that time as our club 'selling our soul'.
I began following my beloved Dragons in boarding school to break the loneliness of being seven, in a strange place away from home, my mother and after losing my father only a year earlier.
Why did I pick the Dragons over other clubs as I knew nothing of their history being so young. Truth is I liked the jumper with the Red V emblazoned on it and have never wavered from it in over 50 years.

 

[baggygreen man]

The St George District Rugby League Football Club, which celebrated its century almost four years ago, was officially formed at the Kogarah School of Arts on November 8, 1920.
The newly formed club's team wearing red and white stripes, played their first Premiership match on St George’s Day (how prophetic), April 23, 1921 against Glebe at the Sydney Sports Ground.
The 13 players to take the field that day were: Lyall Wall, Norm Shadlow, Reg Fusedale, Herb Gilbert (c), George Carstairs, Frank Gray, Tommy Burns, Tony Redmond, Clarrie Tye, Sid Field, Roy Bossi, Ernie Lapham, Jack Clark.
Glebe won the encounter 4–3. In fact St George's inaugural season was not a happy one with them winning only two matches , yet they avoided the dreaded wooden spoon, a victory in itself for a new club..


Saints 1921 players and officials.

 

[justadragon]

I used to love watching the AMCO CUP games midweek, just to get that RL fix during the week. RABS was the commentator I think, plus used to love hearing Rex Mossop and best of all Frank Hyde

 

[Dribble&Yarn]

For some of our more esteemed posters on here - can you please provide an insight on to what the feeling was like at the time about the merger?

For context, I'm 32, so whilst I have some small memories of before the merger, my first real memories are of the 99 grand final. I would love an insight into that time period. I've asked my Father (who is also a Die Hard Dragon), I'm also interested in some others' thoughts as well.

Is anyone here from the Illawarra side of the merger?

 

[jeffdragon]

I used to love watching the AMCO CUP games midweek, just to get that RL fix during the week. RABS was the commentator I think, plus used to love hearing Rex Mossop and best of all Frank Hyde

Most teams played with many of their reserves in if I'm correct.

 

[jak]

The St George District Rugby League Football Club, which celebrated its century almost four years ago, was officially formed at the Kogarah School of Arts on November 8, 1920.
The newly formed club's team wearing red and white stripes, played their first Premiership match on St George’s Day (how prophetic), April 23, 1921 against Glebe at the Sydney Sports Ground.
The 13 players to take the field that day were: Lyall Wall, Norm Shadlow, Reg Fusedale, Herb Gilbert (c), George Carstairs, Frank Gray, Tommy Burns, Tony Redmond, Clarrie Tye, Sid Field, Roy Bossi, Ernie Lapham, Jack Clark.
Glebe won the encounter 4–3. In fact St George's inaugural season was not a happy one with them winning only two matches , yet they avoided the dreaded wooden spoon, a victory in itself for a new club..

View attachment 93832
Saints 1921 players and officials.

my grandfathers brother was one of those players

 

[justadragon]

Most teams played with many of their reserves in if I'm correct.

And also if I remember, wasn't there a country side somewhere where we could see all the bush players in action.

 

[justadragon]

For some of our more esteemed posters on here - can you please provide an insight on to what the feeling was like at the time about the merger?

For context, I'm 32, so whilst I have some small memories of before the merger, my first real memories are of the 99 grand final. I would love an insight into that time period. I've asked my Father (who is also a Die Hard Dragon), I'm also interested in some others' thoughts as well.

Is anyone here from the Illawarra side of the merger?

Good question DY, I wasn't from the Steelers side, my impression of the merger was that both clubs couldn't survive without eachother, and the NRL at the time was definitely looking at minimising Sydney teams further. I remember what a great team we ended up having by combining the 2 clubs, but after the 99 debacle we had a good team but were always choking.
I personally had no issues with the merger because at the start we were being touted as a super club, because our team was always constantly finals bound. It was many years later that I realised what the dynamics of the club was with its board setup and eventually due to that we find ourselves here, having made many many idiotic decisions. There is obviously quite a lot more detail, but a lot of things were clouded over in the early stages.