Respect for Redbacks

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

THE reason for this letter is to express my dismay at the article written by Anton Rose in your edition of June 4 in regards to our game against Toowoomba Rangers.

Firstly, a bit of background. We are a new A-grade side in the Risdon Cup. Some of the teams we are playing have 50 years of history or more. We knew that.

What we probably didn’t realise was what a “closed shop” rugby clubs in Toowoomba are. They’re a very loyal mob it would seem and rightly so.

There was opposition in some quarters to our inclusion in the competition from the beginning with concerns that we would “pinch their players”. The fact is we did not recruit one single player from an existing Toowoomba club.

Having said that, we do have a 30-man playing roster. These players have come back to rugby, have come from other codes and in some cases, playing rugby union for the first time. Not the ideal scenario but you play the cards you’re dealt.

We have two very good coaches with plenty of experience. What we don’t have at the moment is a lot of players with “rugby nous”. We know that. We were aware of that from the start.

Eight losses from eight starts would testify to that. This is a work in progress. Again, we know that.

What we didn’t expect is the kick in the guts received last Monday from Mr Rose’s article.

There was no need to portray our loss to Rangers in the manner it was portrayed – “cricket score”, “blue moon”, “sympathy”.

We have a keen bunch of guys who turns up for training and every weekend just trying to do their best and hopefully one day will give Highfields a senior rugby side that our many juniors and teenage players can aspire to be part of.

Injuries, work commitments, overseas duty are the reasons for last weekend’s depleted squad, but every team has to deal with this until they build up the numbers. We also played a very good team.

Lastly, we don’t seek any sympathy from rival clubs or coaches as portrayed in Mr Rose’s article. All we seek is what we offer to our opposition every weekend – respect. — Brian Cook, manager, Highfields Redbacks A grade