Tigers celebrate past glory

By James Matthey

The 1990s were a period of great success for the Wagga Tigers, and they did their best to reminisce about that past glory when they held a premiership reunion for three Grand Final winning teams.

Members from the victorious 1993, 1994 and 1995 sides came from all across the state and descended on Robertson Oval on Saturday June 29 to relive the joy that comes with winning a premiership.

Simon Wilson, who played in the 1994 and 1995 teams, said that the impressive turnout was a reflection of how much respect former players still carry for the club.

“It was a good day, there were quite a few players there from the three teams including Terry Daniher (captain-coach of those three teams).

“People travelled from Sydney, Newcastle, Wollongong, and from down in Victoria and the south coast, so everyone made a genuine effort to get there.

“I think that’s a significant sign of how highly we regard the club.”

An official post-match function was held for the returning players in the newly refurbished Robert Hughes clubrooms, which were officially opened on the day in memory of long serving administrator Robert “Bob” Hughes, who passed away in late 2010.

Hughes began serving on the Tigers’ committee in 1976, spending time as president, treasurer and secretary, and was inducted as a life member of the club in 2002.

Steven Priest was a member of all three premiership-winning sides and helped to organise the reunion, and said that the day provided the perfect opportunity for people who hadn’t seen each other in years to come back and share stories from a memorable period of their lives.

“It certainly does hold a special place in my life, I’ve always been in Wagga so I’ve always been around the club, but just speaking to a few of the other players that attended, some had left 20 years ago and hadn’t been back to Wagga since then,” said Priest.

“They indicated on the weekend that they were hoping the club was going to have a reunion because they couldn’t wait to get back and catch up with everyone.

“For myself personally it was great to catch up, but most of the other players were of the same opinion that it was great to catch up with everyone and they’d really been looking forward to it for a long time.”

Priest also said that the efforts made by some players to make an appearance at the special event was evidence of the unique bond that will forever exist among the members of those sides that managed to complete a “three-peat” of Riverina Football League (RFL) titles.

“As we all know it’s very hard to get people involved in clubs these days, so to see the effort that a few guys made especially to travel back for a function for one day for something that was 20 years ago, it was a very special moment.

“In particular, it was great for the current playing group to see all those guys make an effort.

“It’s very easy for us guys who are still in Wagga just to turn up and attend the function, but for them to make the effort to come down it was great to see.”

While some of the premiership heroes from that era came down to Wagga Wagga on the Friday night and caught up at a local pub, the main festivities occurred on the Saturday at Robertson Oval where the current crop of players took on traditional rivals Turvey Park.

The large contingent of Tigers legends inspired the home side to a comprehensive 99-point win on the day, providing the perfect environment to kickstart the celebrations.

Priest went on to say that while it was important for the club to look back fondly on the achievements of teams from years gone by, it was just as important that the current crop of players were inspired to create some memories of their own.

“History has always been an important part of any club, but in the same breath I think the current players have got to forge their own history,” said Priest.

“Whilst on one hand the current players were very happy to see us there and were very appreciative that we turned up to support them on the weekend, they’ve got their mind on the job of trying to do something special themselves so that they can possibly have something to celebrate in 20 or 30 years time. “