Deputy Principal

Team Sport and Culture

On Saturday, I ventured back to Queens Park (which for me is hallowed ground as I went to school at Waverley College – another EREA school) for the first time, I think, in about 25 years. It was a beautiful sunny winter day, and it was the first time the schools had played each other at that level in a number of years. We played a number of fixtures against Waverley over the day and certainly held our own. Our Second XV only just went down in the last few minutes, and everyone was looking forward to the main fixture.

Can I commend the students who were there and formed the tunnel and led the war cry as the First XV ran out onto the field. They may have been small in number, but they were much louder than their opposition counterparts. Some schools would find playing Waverley daunting. Not our young men, who, even though they were down early, never gave up and continued to apply pressure through the second half to mount a mighty comeback, only to fall two points short. Waverley were looking for the full-time bell as they were finding it hard to contain our running forwards and electric backs. It is always hard to pick standouts, but I must say that James Kelly was unstoppable in the front row, crossing the advantage line with a number of big runs. Charlie Gray was certainly the man of the match; he created so many turnovers, as well as having many runs, showing off his prowess by bamboozling the opposition with his side steps. The try of the game was when Charlie, as he was falling to the ground, passed the ball around the opposition to Josh Antico, who then put in a chip-and-chase, regathered, and then scored. 

SPC culture was alive and well on the day. The players never gave up and backed each other up. If someone made a mistake, their teammates would run over to encourage them and build them up. They were led by their Captain Joshua Malone, who was visibly disappointed after the game. Losing hurts, but it's clear that this team, under Josh’s leadership, is a close-knit, dedicated group that is always building and capable of beating any team on game day. Team sports have so much to offer our students, they teach them skills including communication, working for each other, confidence, communication, leadership, and resilience. 

I encourage all our young men to participate in as many sports and co-curricular activities as possible. There is so much to benefit from, as we all witnessed on Saturday at Waverley.

Adrian Byrne

Deputy Principal