Big turnout for worthy cause as stars show they still have 'it'
THEY would have preferred not to have had to play in such a game but they were happy to come back in the name of a WA great.
Retired West Coast and Fremantle players and a few ring-ins last week rallied for a cause close to the heart of former Eagle great, Chris Mainwaring, who died last year.
West Coast, the OWLS (Older, Wiser, Larger, Slower), and Fremantle, the Old Salts, played in the Chris Mainwaring Tribute Match as part of the Seven Network's (Perth) Telethon coverage, and more than 32,000 people turned up at Subiaco Oval to watch.
Phil, Peter and Wally Matera and Phil Narkle (West Coast), and Jeff Farmer, Scott Chisholm and Troy Cook (Fremantle) -- who all no longer play at AFL level -- were part of the Aboriginal contingent joined by other club greats on the night.
Even Channel 7 identity Ernie Dingo and WA boxer Danny Green got guernseys for their beloved Eagles.
The game featured past stars including West Coast's Dean Kemp, Brett Heady, Paul Peos and Andrew McGovern, Craig Callaghan and Todd Ridley among others for Fremantle.
And while most of them may have lost a yard or two, they nevertheless put on an entertaining match that delighted the fans, whose number outdrew that of an AFL match at the ground earlier this season.
The match, which West Coast won, 15.11 (101) to 12.10 (82), raised $150,000 for Telethon, a cause Mainwaring worked tirelessly for before his untimely death last year.
And the memory of former Fremantle player, Gary Dhurrkay, who died in a car accident in 2005, was honoured with a medal struck in his name and going to Leigh Wardell-Johnson as the Dockers' best player.
DARREN MONCRIEFF
AboriginalFootball@westnet.com.au
Monday, October 13, 2008
Last Modified on 13/10/2008 01:33