The success of yet another Nelson Bay junior rugby league season has reignited the discussion for the need of a first division club to provide a pathway for the area’s talented young footballers.
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While the senior club remains in recess in the hope of securing a financial backer, one of the its earliest players recalled his league days on his 90th birthday.
Fingal Bay’s Ken Barry had some success with Nelson Bay in the A-grade competition before trying his luck for Maitland in the tougher Newcastle Rugby League.
The great-great-grandfather who celebrated his landmark birthday on September 7 with family, friends and old football and fishing mates, tells a story of his best decision he made on the football field.
“We were playing North Newcastle when a rampaging Herb Narvo, then an Australia player and heavy weight boxing champion, was heading for the try line with only me standing in his way,” Barry recalled.
“Being a small halfback and working on self preservation I missed the tackle. On his way back to join his teammates the big forward ruffled my hair and said ‘that is the smartest decision you have ever made son’.”
A child of a pioneering family, the early days for Ken Barry involved helping on the family chook farm, fishing the oceans and playing rugby league, which he started as an 18-year-old in 1946 with Nelson Bay A grade.
Barry has fond recollections of his early playing days, including the day he was offered a game against the mighty St George outfit at Fly Point Oval, where he was later invited to trial with the Dragons and was offered 15 pounds a week.
“In 1949-50 I played with Maitland but only for half the season due to the raging floods of that time,” he said.
“I didn’t have a car so I would run the 8km from home through the bush to Nelson Bay, catch the bus to Newcastle and then the train to Maitland for training. It was about a three hour trip and some nights I wouldn’t get home till 2am.”
At one point his coach Freddy Brown paid him a visit. “We had caught a heap of mullet and back in those days we had to carry the catch in 60-70lb baskets up the beach,” he said. “After about 10 basket loads Freddy bailed out saying he’d had enough, when he found out that was part of my daily workload he gave me the rest of the season off training.”
Deciding not to take up the Sydney offer Barry returned to play for Nelson Bay, joining forces with the likes of Sam Diemar and Jim Horgan.
After a couple of seasons in the local league, the trio travelled to Maitland in seasons 1954/55 where they won a premiership in 1955 in reserve grade.
With little money around for footy Barry started a career as a professional fisherman, working the family trawler, named Peter B. It’s a passion Barry has retained.
