Raging Bull returns to Townsville for 20th annual Gorden Tallis Cup
EARLY in 2002, the Townsville Junior Rugby League called up North Queensland’s greatest active player to ask for his blessing to launch a junior tournament in his name.
Gorden Tallis couldn’t say yes fast enough, and 20 years later, he has never missed a tournament.
The Raging Bull estimates he would have seen 15,000 under-10 players battle to raise his cup over the years, having grown from humble beginnings to one of Queensland’s largest junior carnivals of its type.
“That first year there were seven teams from the seven local clubs. This year there will be 1350 kids in my competition,” Tallis said, with pride.
“When they asked me I was still playing, and I knew it happened a lot with other people with comps named after them that didn’t really have anything to do with it. I always thought if I had a cup, that I wanted to be hands-on.”
Tallis has lived up to that promise, taking up the mantle of tournament cop as well as its proudest ambassador. Tallis can be spotted on the sidelines at Kern Brothers Drive all day Saturday and Sunday, taking pictures and sharing smiles with players and parents alike, who have had this weekend circled on their calendar for months.
If anything gets in the way of that fun, Tallis takes it upon himself to sort out the issue.
“To me it’s about the kids,” he said.
“If we get some coaches or dads or teams taking it too serious, that’s my job to walk over there and sort it out.
“It’s very rare I’ve had to walk over and say to the dads, hey – it’s a $20 trophy. It’s for fun.”
He hasn’t had to ‘Brett Hodgson’ anyone yet.
The greatest perk, according to Tallis, had been the chance to help families create
lifelong memories together. “Rugby league has given me so much, so for me individually to come and give back to my community, my hometown, it’s not about whether they kick on to play NRL. It’s so families can forget about their troubles for a bit,” he said.