By MALCOLM ANDREWS
HOW ironic that we should lose the great Aussie fullback Ken Thornett on the eve of the last game at Parramatta Stadium, where his name graces one of the two major grandstands.
And it is certain that one of the stands in the new state-of-the-art arena which will built on the site will also bear his name.
After all, he wasn’t dubbed ‘The mayor of Parramatta’ for nothing.
The Eels will take on the Dragons at Parramatta Stadium next Monday.
As a traditionalist, I refuse to call it by the name of the sponsor, which I am led to believe is a manufacturer of industrial hoses, although everyone I ask hasn’t got a clue.
Anyway, ‘The Mayor of Industrial Horses’ doesn’t have the same ring about it.
In obituaries last week, Sydney Rugby League writers have conveniently ignored the success Thornetts had in Britain with Leeds.
But the Thornetts were certainly a remarkable sporting family.
Elder brother John was captain of the Wallabies rugby union Test side.
Then there was Dick Thornett, who was not only capped in both cedes of
rugby but also represented Australia at the Olympics in water polo.
But I think the best indication of the ability of the Ken Thornett came in 1963, when he and Dick were members of the first all-Australian Kangaroos side to win an Ashes series in Britain.
The previous success was in 1911-12, when there were a couple of New Zealanders in the squad.
The hardest part for Ken was to make the Test side in 1963.
The Premiership that year had probably the finest array of fullbacks of any season in the history of Rugby League in Australia.
Some legends of the game had to move into the threequarters to make the Test side and others didn’t even manage to wear the green and gold that year.
On the tour of Great Britain and France, Ken Thornett was fullback.
The man later to be voted as an Australian ‘Immortal’ Graeme Langlands, was moved to the centre to partner his St George team-mate and fellow ‘Immortal’ Reg Gasnier.
Canterbury’s Les Johns, who had played Tests earlier in the year against New Zealand and South Africa, was a member of the side dubbed ‘The Emus’ who played in the minor tour games against the English club sides.
Keith Barnes, the Welsh-born Balmain star who had been captain-coach of Australia when the Kangaroos made their previous tour, in 1959-60, didn’t even make the squad of 26.
Barnes was such a prolific goalkicker that the media dubbed him ‘Golden Boot’ and many thought he should have also been captain-coach of the 1963-64 side.
Also overlooked were former Test fullbacks Don Parish (Wests Magpies) and Frank Drake, who had moved to Toowoomba in Queensland because he had to play second fiddle to Barnes at Balmain.
By the way, also playing in Australia that year was the great South African Fred ‘Punchy’ Griffiths, who had joined the North Sydney after four years with Wigan, and another ex-Test man Ron Willey, who was nearing the end of his playing career and would later carve out another career as a respected and successful coach.
Remember also there were only ten Premiership teams – and therefore only ten regular fullbacks – in those days.
What a smorgasbord of talent, of which Thornett was the most appetising.
With the Thornetts at their best, the fortunes of the Eels changed.
They usually finished last until the borthers’ appeared on the scene.
In the first season after Ken’s arrival back in Australia from Leeds they made the play-offs for the first time.
They used to play at Cumberland Oval, which was also a cricket arena at which the remarkable Englishman WG Grace once played a match.
It was an awful dump of a ground.
Parramatta won its first Grand Final in 1981, which prompted the Eels’ legendary coach Jack Gibson to quip: “Ding, dong, the witch is dead.”
And the fans celebrated in quite a unique way.
They burned the dilapidated grandstand at Cumberland Oval.
This forced the government to step in and build a new stadium adjacent to the site of the charred remains of the stand.
On March 5, 1986, the new Parramatta Stadium was opened by the visiting Queen Elizabeth II.
This was in the days when the Royal Family deigned to rub shoulders those of us in Rugby League.
Now it is only the folk who follow the kick-and-clap game that get a look in with the residents of Buck House.
Eleven days later and we were all out at Parramatta to see the Eels thrash St George 36-6 in the first match at the stadium.
It is fitting that Parramatta and the now-merged St George Illawarra will play in the final encounter next Monday.
And, despite the fart that ‘The Mayor of Parramatta’ never actually played on its turf, we will turn to the Ken Thornett Stand and raise a toast to the great man.
A gentleman to the end!
