Rambo humbled by heartfelt gifts
“RON, you are my hero. I honour you and what you have done for your community and especially for what you have given to me” – Steve Howarth
Ron Gibbs is a living legend in western rugby league circles. Known for his toughness, the man who earned the nickname “Rambo” while playing with the Manly Sea Eagles, the fiery forward was on the verge of tears recently when a group of mates gathered for coffee.
“The modern day Tree of Knowledge” where Ronny is often found outside Chris’s Coffee Shop at the lower end of Macquarie Street was where Steve Howarth surprised his childhood hero.
Steve Howarth grew up in Bourke, with Ronny “the man he wanted to be”.
Steve has been carrying a special gift in his bag for three or four years. On that day recently when there was talk of flooding rains, the chat inevitably turned to league and the 25th Ronny Gibbs 7s held in Bourke.
Then Steve produced a carved egg, a cherished item for a first nations man.
“It had been in my heart for a long time to honour Ronny in this way. I wanted to thank him for his career as a player and nearly three decades of giving generously to the community. He is so loved!
“Ronny Gibbs was who I wanted to be like, but I never had his fearless attitude nor the skills that took him to the top.”
There are so many dimensions to the magnificently prepared gift.
“The egg reflects a spiritual dimension. It signifies new life and this can be achieved at many levels – birth, knowledge, meeting special timelines, growing with mates, teaching others. The emu egg has many layers and great beauty and these have been revealed by the artist, Helen Tringham.”
It is obvious the love that Steve has for the man on whom he has tried to model himself.
“I explained to Helen what I wanted. Sea Eagles, headgear, beaten face of the bloke who left nothing on the field. I wanted her to capture the Darling Barkindji which has been the lifeblood of our people and the bridge that linked the townspeople to North Bourke.
“I wanted the gift mounted on a special mulga wood that was a part of our growing up. When we light a fire we gain warmth and light; when Ronny comes to town the same emotions are stirred and so the egg is held in a special case,” Steve explained.
Steve Howarth says his gift is on behalf of the thousands of people Ronny has touched.
“As I grew older and my career stalled in Bourke and the west, I watched in awe as this young bloke from the Darling took it to the best. He became a champion, no quarters asked, none given.”
Then Rambo came back to the bush – Mudgee, Narromine, even an odd game in his home town. That is when Steve Howarth’s admiration grew for his hero.
“Ronny has been so generous in the past 25 years, travelling selflessly to all our communities out west, passing on skills and knowledge of league, but even more importantly, encouraging young boys and girls to be the best they can be. He admits school wasn’t his most favourite thing, but he learned many lessons from teachers and elders in his time at Bourke and when he moved to Newcastle,” Steve told me with strong emotion.
In fact, when Ron was awarded the Tony Mcgrane Award in Dubbo last year he reflected on the life lessons he had learned from his parents, grandparents and those in the Aboriginal community in which he had been raised. He also acknowledged those who had challenged him to do his best and supported and encouraged him along the way.
Anyone who has met Ron Gibbs through league, in life with his wife Megan with whom he has been in love since high school, and children and now grandkids, or when he has driven into town for a clinic or a fundraiser, can identify with what Steve is saying.
In short, Ronny “Rambo” Gibbs is a great bloke, a true friend and a man of many beautiful layers. Each day he walks around the community he reveals another, and all of us are better for having had him cross our paths.
THE following is an extract from a piece prepared by “Riverbank Frank” Doolan who grew up alongside Ron in Bourke. I think he sums up his friend beautifully
HEROES OF THE WEST
RON Gibbs is a 60-year-old Indigenous Australian man presently residing in Dubbo.
Ron was born in Brewarrina and spent his formative years in Bourke, in far western NSW. As a boy, he played junior rugby league on the dusty playing fields of outback NSW.
Like so many others he dreamed of football glory; unlike many of his contemporaries, Ron actually made it happen!
Ron played at the highest level for several Sydney clubs – a no-holds-barred, crash-tackling, fire-breathing second rower who asked no quarter and gave none. Ron’s finest contribution came at Manly in 1987. He played in all 26 competition games plus finals and the Grand Final.
Ron remains the only player to be sin-binned twice in a Grand Final. He is also the only Bourke player to feature in a winning Manly Grand Final team.
Today, Ron takes Rugby League back to communities in the far west on a regular basis. He conducts rugby league workshops, knockout competitions and promotes healthy living through sport in communities as far flung as Wilcannia, Broken Hill, Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett. He achieves all he does through teams of volunteers in each community, but it’s mostly through Ron’s drive and passion that these communities can know they are not forgotten.
Ron and his wife, Megan, and their family are a living, breathing example of reconciliation in action. Ron is an Indigenous Australian man from humble beginnings. Megan’s family farmed land west of Bourke. Childhood sweethearts, Ron and Megan’s love stands beacon-like for both black and white to see.
This remarkable couple would never have analysed their black/ white union, but in a town where bitterness, violence and racial unrest are rife, their love speaks loudly to all and sundry about other possibilities!
I am proposing to Bourke Council that it connects another Bourke “hero”, Mark Davidson,
and a life-size statue of Ron Gibbs in a prominent position at Bourke’s Davidson Oval. This is the field where Ron played much of his Junior Rugby League and the statue would bring it into harmony with the oval named to honour Mark.
To give the project local input, I propose a steering committee of Bourke residents be formed. The committee will, as much as possible, be made up of interested black/white residents to reflect and celebrate the reconciliation aspect of the stories. Ron has been contacted about this and, although humbled by the gesture, he is fully supportive. His NRL contacts will prove to be invaluable.
This project has the potential to unite the community like never before. It is a story all Bourke residents can feel proud of. It can and will set Bourke on the road to better race relations. It is a community building exercise with the potential to set an outback town on an entirely new course.
Here’s hoping Heroes of the West gets government support to embark on a real game-changer.