IT'S been 40 years since the club won its last Group 10 premier league title and it's been almost 25 years since it last played in the top grade, but the legacy of Bathurst Railway will be kept alive this year.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
To celebrate the milestone anniversary since its last premier league grand final, Bathurst Railway will host a reunion this year at the Panthers Leagues Club.
And to mark the occasion, the Bathurst Panthers are set to wear a special green and red jersey to pay tribute to the old Railway club in its home match at Carrington Park against St Pat's.
The match was meant to occur in June, but after Blayney Bears' withdrawal from the competition on Monday, Group 10 will require to construct a new draw and potentially find a new date for the Railway reunion.
The old Railway boys were planning to host a reunion last year to coincide with their 40 year anniversary of winning the 1980 premiership, however, the coronavirus pandemic prevented them from doing so.
READ MORE:
"We were meant to do it when Panthers played Cowra last year but then COVID buggered everything up," organiser and 1981 club senior vice president Robert Taylor said.
"So we reorganised for this year and Danny Dwyer from Panthers approached us to see if they could play in green and red against Cowra. Then Cowra pulled out of the competition so now we're going to play St Pat's in the Railway jumpers."
Taylor said the clubs ultimate demise in the 1990s came down to mainly financial issues.
"The initial reason was financial and we had a big reunion in 1996 and cleared up all the debts," he said.
"This year's reunion isn't just for players though, rather for all people involved, whether supporters, expats and anyone in the Group.
"We'll have Paul Dunn there, as well as Terry Regan and Bill Rose."
Railway's famous 1981 triumph came against Lithgow Shamrocks - another Group 10 club that only survives through the history books - following a 19-16 win in the decider.
The red and greens had to battle from third on the competition ladder, defeating arch rivals Charlestons in the qualifying final and then downing minor premiers Shamrocks in the major semi-final 15-8 to book a grand final spot.
On September 20, 1981, Bathurst Sportsground hosted the grand final between Railway and Shamrocks (these were the days before Carrington Park was built).
Captained by Bob Adamson, Railway downed an impressive Shamrocks outfit, who was playing in its first ever Group 10 premier league grand final.
Shamrocks opened too strong for the grand final hosts and built a strong 11-0 lead and it could've been worse as Derek Dobe crossed the Railway line twice only to be called back by the referee.
Railway's Mick Wallace burrowed his way through the Shamrocks defence to score the red and greens their first try of the match, but Geoff Thorne missed an easy conversion and the Lithgow club was up 11-3 at the break.
Railway continued to attack strongly in the second half and fullback John Maguire ran onto a long, lofted pass to score a try in the opening minutes. The conversion was once again missed.
And not long after, Garry Taylor made a bust up the middle and Wallace was there for support to score his second try of the match and then the scores were level when Thorne converted the try.
Railway went to the lead for first time with a try out wide by Brian Hope, but the conversion kicked failed, however, Thorne added a penalty goal shortly afterwards to give the hosts a five-point advantage.
Shamrocks weren't giving up easy and McKenna stepped his way through the Railway defence to score and converted his own try to level the score again 16-all.
Brian Godfrey scored the winning try to deliver Railway its ninth and last Group 10 premier league title.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.westernadvocate.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Google News