The Club Song

(to the tune of Blaydon Races)

Oh me lads you should have seen us coming!
Coming along the Greenhill Road,
Just to see you scrumming.
All the lads & lasses there,
And all the smiling faces,
Coming along the Greenhill Road,
To see the Old Collegians!

The Lucky Cucumber

The Frocs have a team talisman tied to their first aid kit. It was acquired by Kim Evans on one of her jaunts to Hong Kong to watch the Rugby Sevens. Those of you familiar with feng shui will know that the Chinese believe that certain types of images/objects can effect your luck. For example, fish attract wealth, peaches bring long life and dragons provide protection. God only knows what a Cucumber promises. The Frocs are encouraged to rub the Lucky Cucumber before their games, for luck and safety. They insist it works. Before your imaginations get carried away, the actual size of the Lucky Cucumber is about 4cm.

It's sandy in parts and ducks swim on it when it rains. The cricket pitch in the middle is either concrete or glue (depending on the time of the year ).

It's our home away from home.

In summer, the air is dry and hot and the sun doesn't go down till after training. We gasp around the paddock, taking refuge under the shade of the ball-eating trees. The cricketers haven't finished their season yet and the coaches have to chase us off the cricket pitch (screw-ins play havok with the surface). It's our pre-season. They make us run sprints and fitness drills up through the neighbourhood. We cheat and take shortcuts.

In winter, we watch our breath go white. It's dark before we start, and we train under lights, raising our eyes and losing the ball in the glare. Rebecca's fingers turn peacock blue. The moon hovers over us and we can smell the neighbour's roast. We drag the old scrum machine out of the shed, but can never get it back in.

On game days it's decked out with flags, fresh lines, ropes and sponsors signs. All the familiar faces crowd around. If you don't turn up early you can't get a park for love or money, and you have to walk from around the block. The junior games have been played in the morning and the kids run around in mini-versions of our kit. Over the years, we watch them grow up. The young mothers (some of them players themselves not that long ago) heckle the ref and compare babies. The last team limp about, smoking, singing, shouting at each other. The next team warm up in the distance. The life members cluster on the balcony, nursing their pints and hurling the same advice as the week before. It's ingored, like the week before. And everywhere, everywhere there's rugby.

The season ends, the lines fade and the posts are taken down. The cricketers take over again. It seems very empty without us.

It's our home away from home.

We had lost thirteen players at the end of 1999 and for the next couple of years we were often short of numbers. We never forfeited, although on many occasions we played without a full team. In a game against Burnside in 2001 we had only eight girls. The competition rules required us to field a minimum of nine or else forfeit.

Tiana and Kristie Hume had been delivered to the ground by their mother, Connie. We all know and love Connie. She often stands on the sideline cheering us on and she has cooked for a number of our functions over the years.

Connie was persuaded to play for us. She pulled on a jersey over her trousers and took the field with her daughters in a borrowed pair of boots. We lost the game but put up a great fight, with the Magnificent Connie contributing every bit as much as the seasoned players.

The Wisdom of Old Man Butler

Ray Butler's loyalty to the Frocs and to rugby is unquestionable. He coached the Frocs in 1997 and 1998 and then again from 2001 to 2004.

Ray is a walking, talking rugby cliché. Girls who have voiced self-doubt at their skills recall his gruff wisdom: “It's not strength that makes a rugby player. It's not speed that makes a rugby player. It's heart. Heart makes a rugby player”.

One of his highest compliments is to tell you that your game was "feral".

Ray's most quoted pearl of wisdom amongst the team is the loud and repeated demand "Bleed for your jersey!".

Rebeccas Galore

We collect Rebeccas, mostly Rebecca Annes. It's uncanny. First we had the original Rebecca Anne Manson. In 2002, we were joined by Rebecca Ogilve and Rebecca Anne Derbyshire-Lloyd. We called the new Rebeccas Missy and Bob respectively, to differentiate between the three Rebeccas. Bob has since rebelled against "Bob". We aren't sure what to call her now. We're trying out her initials at the moment "RDL" - Raddles. In 2005 we were joined by Rebecca Anne Mullane. We're calling her "M" for Mullane. Where will it end?

Undefeated

The Frocs were undefeated for both the 1997 and 1999 seasons, winning some games by more than 120 points.

Marion Bay

One of our greatest weekends was an end of season trip to Marion Bay. There were midnight swims in the freezing sea, beach cricket, hopeless surfing and we played rugby in the waves in front of an audience of a dozen bemused surfers on the boardwalk.

The Britney

Every team has its special moves and its names for them. Over the years we've enjoyed running the Rudolph (named for Coach Ray Butler's red nose), the Firetruck and the Skanky Ho, to name a few. One of our favourite moves has been the "Britney", so named because it was designed to put a certain player (who shall remain nameless) into a gap and over the line. Why Britney? Because the Froc in question had a deal with her boyfriend that if she didn't score a try in any given game, he was allowed to call her Britney in bed for the next week!