FIFTY years old and still going strong – that was the catch cry at Tambo last weekend as its polocrosse club celebrated its golden anniversary.
The grounds resembled a mini state carnival as 36 teams rolled into town to compete from all corners of the state, and tall stories flowed at the celebration dinner.
One of the best sights of the weekend was seeing former players saddle up for a masters competition, including one of the club’s original team members, Luke Tully, who was celebrating his 77th birthday on the day.
Of the original team that took to the field in 1963, Luke was joined by Keven Hafey, Ron Lewis and Ray Mayne at the sold-out dinner to reminisce on old times. The other two members were Frank Lewis and Glen Lucht. The more youthful Member for Warrego, Howard Hobbs, played for the club in the 1980s and also saddled up.
“It’s a fantastic achievement for the club and the district, and it shows the resilience of the sport and tenacity of the people involved,” he said.
“Having generational change has helped keep the club going.”
Playing the sport as a family was always one of the pluses for Howard.
Anne-Maree, Jeffrey and Bronte Lloyd and Adma Sargood, were all smiles as the big weekend of polocrosse wound down at Tambo. Click on the image to see a photo gallery from the Tambo Polocrosse.
The Sargood name featured in the trophy presentations at the conclusion of the carnival when cousins Jake, Mitch and Harry Sargood lined up to present the Bob Sargood Memorial Trophy to Tansey I, which included their father and uncle Clayton Sargood.
The Tansey team, which had a comprehensive win over Warwick I in the A-grade final, was a roll-call of
western names. Alongside Clayton played Tom O’Neill, Justin Hafey, Trent Collins, Andrew Phillips and Shane Gehrke. Tom collected the award for best horse of the carnival, while Andrew was judged best A grade horse and rider.
Fellow Tansey player Emma Hafey was best under-21 player and best B-grade horse and rider combination.
Her team, Tansey II took out the B-grade final, defeating Taroom I. Tansey III made it a treble for the weekend, winning the C-grade final by defeating home team Tambo II.
Tambo had its moment in the sun when the section of Jake Lloyd and Hannah and Luke Scobie won the junior A grade chukka competition.
Club secretary Bella Elmes was judged best lady player in the masters, while Warwick’s Charlie Brooks took out the male award.
Best lady player of the carnival was Kylie Gould of Wandoan.