BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

Close your eyes for a moment and take a trip back in time. It is a sunny, winter afternoon, you and the boys have just knocked back one last schooner at the Railway Hotel.

The conversation turns to footy as you cross the train tracks and head down Church Street.

“How good was Tommy last week?” one mate spruiks.

Another steps on his cigarette, “Not as good as Donnelly and Boyd!”

The train line hugs the street as it narrows – you can hear the hum of Lidcombe Oval ahead. The smell of meat on barbeque wafts and dances around your nose. Laughter, beer, black and white jerseys.

“Would the owner of a white Commodore, license plate GVT – 238, please report to the grandstand,” the announcer crackles through the speakers.

You buy your ticket and walk into the ground, doing a lap of the oval before finding a spot close to the stand amongst a throng of Magpies supporters. Beers and bathroom are nearby and you can see the ground – a victory. Then you hear the unmistakable sound of metal studs, grinding into the concrete as thirteen Wests players file out of the Home dressing room led onto the field by Tom Terrific.

“Give ‘em hell, boys!”.

“Rip ‘em to shreds, Tom!”.

The studs now hit the grass (if you can call it that). After eighty minutes, the rock-hard surface will have taken the skin from the arms and legs of everyone. The team forms a huddle around Raudonikis. Les Boyd is making balls with his fists, his eyes rolling like a madman. ‘Joe Cool’ John Dorahy is next to him, calmly listening to Tommy’s profanities. ‘Dallas’ Donnelly is out the back, peering into the souls of the opposition front row asking himself who he’s going to punch in the face first.

Down at the fence, Max the Magpie is mingling with the kids.

Roy Masters heads to the bench with a match day programme folded neatly in his back pocket.

And then the anarchy really begins.

If you’re thinking, “those were the days”, than prepare to live them all again because the Magpies are returning to Lidcombe Oval this Saturday.

Amid all the footy this weekend – nothing says rugby league glory years like Lidcombe Oval.

Top flight football left Lidcombe long ago, thirty years or 11,203 days to be exact but it’s up to all of us to remember. To keep the memories of all those players alive. Whether it’s Tommy’s slight frame bashing into men twice his size, Noel “Ned” Kelly winning another scrum (when scrums were legit) or Bob Cooper exchanging fisticuffs with some sorry son of a bitch.

Time is the great equaliser and long gone are the great old days of Lidcombe Oval and all those players that called it home. Some have passed on and some now live in the bodies of grey, old men.

Just once a year do they return, down the train line on Church Street.

And how hard was it being on the other side?

Just ask the Parramatta Eels – a powerhouse team in the late 1970’s and 1980’s. A team that boasted Price, Cronin, Peard and later Sterling, Kenny and Grothe.

21, 000 people squeezed into Lidcombe Oval on July 30th, 1978 to see the Magpies hammer Parramatta 32-12. Ron Giteau bagged a double while Peter Rowles kicked seven goals as Wests marched on to the minor premiership.

On Saturday, stories will be told and old friendships rekindled even if it is just for a few hours.

But that’s all these guys need.

And when it’s finished again – they’ll all be waiting for next year.

Ron Massey Cup
Magpies vs St. Marys 3pm

Sydney Shield
Magpies vs St. Marys 1pm

Gates open at midday. Entry is just $5.

Confirmed names attending: Geoff Foster, Stephen Knight, Noel Kelly, John Chow Hayes, Carl Ross, Barry Glasgow, Geoff Squires, Tim Murphy, Steve Winters, Allan Fallah, Bruce Clark, Tommy Raudonikis, Trevor Cogger, Brett Clark, Alan NeIl, Bob Cooper, Jim Murphy, Wayne Smith, Mick Liubinskas, Mick Pinkerton, Steve Winter, Jon Clarke, Lindsay Sinclair and Tony Ford.

You can also hear live coverage of the day on steelesports.com.au.

@woodward_curtis

IT'S ON!!!!! Lidcombe Oval – Saturday May 6th #Magpies2017 #NSWRL #oldboys pic.twitter.com/Lqt2wUwSPg

— Wests Magpies (@westsmagpies) May 1, 2017

Wests Magpies v St Marys Rugby League Club NSWRL
1pm Saturday
Listen Live Steele Sportshttps://t.co/i6OwyakwPq https://t.co/fzSWnbkUVg

— Alby T (@steele_sports) May 1, 2017