ID :
190871
Fri, 06/24/2011 - 14:13
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http://m.oananews.org//node/190871
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Sports icons Brockhoff, Mossop farewelled
SYDNEY (AAP) - June 24 - Rex Mossop and David Brockhoff, legendary characters of rugby league and rugby union respectively, were farewelled in Sydney on Friday.
The pair played together in the Australian rugby union side that won the Bledisloe Cup on New Zealand soil for the first time in 1949.
They died within a day of each other last weekend and had their lives celebrated at two well-attended services, held 20 kilometres apart on Friday.
Sir Nicholas Shehadie, another member of the groundbreaking 1949 side, gave a touching eulogy at Brockhoff's memorial service at Sydney University.
Shehadie recalled Brockhoff's playing days, when he was a "manager's nightmare" and proposed to wife Claire over the phone from South Africa.
Brockhoff's antics were a common theme at the service, which featured tributes from teammates, sons Peter and John, and Andrew Murray, who played under Brockhoff when he started coaching at Sydney University.
Brockhoff went on to coach the Wallabies for two terms during the 1970s.
His devotion and animated passion for rugby union at international, state, club, college and school level was well-noted.
"I didn't play at Sydney Uni but a friend of mine relayed a story to me during the week of how Brock turned up at halftime of a sixth grade match against Randwick," noted former Wallabies captain John Eales.
"Before instilling the team with eye-popping passion, he reminded them they were only eight steps away from playing in a Wallaby jersey and that the journey started in one minute."
Eales was on the receiving end of many of Brockhoff's fiery motivational speeches.
"(In 1996) he implored us to rip into those Springboks like a feral dog attacks those filthy rabbits down the back of Ayres Rock," he recalled.
"The younger guys didn't know where to look, but the Springboks were in trouble."
Eales paid tribute to Brockhoff's ability to transcend generations, saying the icon made a lasting impression on his own career.
Mossop was remembered as one of sport's toughest and most colourful figures at a packed funeral service in Manly on Sydney's northern beaches.
Mossop, who switched to rugby league after eight Tests with the Wallabies, earned a fearsome reputation in Manly's forward packs of the 1950s and 1960s before becoming league's leading commentator in the 1970s.
Western Suburbs' great Noel Kelly told a packed congregation that `Moose' should be remembered as a genuine legend of the game.
"Rex Mossop has contributed more to rugby league than anyone I've ever known," Kelly said.
League immortal Johnny Raper was also full of praise for Mossop's unique character.
"There will never be another Rex Mossop," Raper said.
"He took me under his wing when I was 19 years of age. I thumped a Pommy one day and he said 'hey son, I brought you over here to play football. I do the fighting - you play the football'.
"They were the best words anyone ever said to me."
The pair played together in the Australian rugby union side that won the Bledisloe Cup on New Zealand soil for the first time in 1949.
They died within a day of each other last weekend and had their lives celebrated at two well-attended services, held 20 kilometres apart on Friday.
Sir Nicholas Shehadie, another member of the groundbreaking 1949 side, gave a touching eulogy at Brockhoff's memorial service at Sydney University.
Shehadie recalled Brockhoff's playing days, when he was a "manager's nightmare" and proposed to wife Claire over the phone from South Africa.
Brockhoff's antics were a common theme at the service, which featured tributes from teammates, sons Peter and John, and Andrew Murray, who played under Brockhoff when he started coaching at Sydney University.
Brockhoff went on to coach the Wallabies for two terms during the 1970s.
His devotion and animated passion for rugby union at international, state, club, college and school level was well-noted.
"I didn't play at Sydney Uni but a friend of mine relayed a story to me during the week of how Brock turned up at halftime of a sixth grade match against Randwick," noted former Wallabies captain John Eales.
"Before instilling the team with eye-popping passion, he reminded them they were only eight steps away from playing in a Wallaby jersey and that the journey started in one minute."
Eales was on the receiving end of many of Brockhoff's fiery motivational speeches.
"(In 1996) he implored us to rip into those Springboks like a feral dog attacks those filthy rabbits down the back of Ayres Rock," he recalled.
"The younger guys didn't know where to look, but the Springboks were in trouble."
Eales paid tribute to Brockhoff's ability to transcend generations, saying the icon made a lasting impression on his own career.
Mossop was remembered as one of sport's toughest and most colourful figures at a packed funeral service in Manly on Sydney's northern beaches.
Mossop, who switched to rugby league after eight Tests with the Wallabies, earned a fearsome reputation in Manly's forward packs of the 1950s and 1960s before becoming league's leading commentator in the 1970s.
Western Suburbs' great Noel Kelly told a packed congregation that `Moose' should be remembered as a genuine legend of the game.
"Rex Mossop has contributed more to rugby league than anyone I've ever known," Kelly said.
League immortal Johnny Raper was also full of praise for Mossop's unique character.
"There will never be another Rex Mossop," Raper said.
"He took me under his wing when I was 19 years of age. I thumped a Pommy one day and he said 'hey son, I brought you over here to play football. I do the fighting - you play the football'.
"They were the best words anyone ever said to me."
