The great coach Jack Gibson was fond of pithy one-liners.
Indeed he kept scrap books of quotes from people in all walks of life.
Not just sporting identities, but from British Prime Ministers, US Presidents, famous philosophers and renowned wordsmiths.
I would venture to suggest that somewhere in those bulging books of newspaper clippings and handwritten sentences would be the one variously attributed to any one of a dozen or so great names.
“Those who don‘t know history are doomed to repeat it.”
Some historians have said it was made by the Spanish philosopher, essayist, poet and novelist George Santayana.
However it was more likely uttered a century before Santayana was spouting his words of wisdom by Edmund Burke, the celebrated 18th century Anglo-Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist, and
philosopher.
We suggest England Test winger Joe Burgess should take Burke’s philosophy to heart.
Last Monday Burgess tamed an error-ridden first-half display for Souths Rabbitohs against the Manly Sea Eagles, bombing a couple of tries.
And not one olf the 8,273 fans at the stadium in Moore Park could miss his fumblings and bumblings.
You see, Burgess was wearing the brightest of gold boots for his not-so-golden display.
Mind you, he wasn’t alone with his choice of footwear.
Almost every player had a different shade of colour for their boots.
Bright orange, pastel pink, luminous sky blue, vivid red … and several multi-coloured pairs!
It’s all the rage these days for young players blissfully unaware of the lessons of history.
They should have a talk to one of the immortals of our great game, Graeme ‘Changa’ Langlands.
He was first player to break away from the traditional black rugby boots, worn since the start of rugby union and the subsequent breakaway to form the Greatest Game of All in 1895.
Changa would be quick to tell them that if you break the mould you only draw attention to yourself and heaven help you if you have a shocker of a game.
Let us take you back to 1975.
The Grand Final of that year remains one of the most famous in Premiership history.
At the time, the scoreline in which the Eastern Suburbs Roosters beat St George 38-0 was the biggest in the history of Premiership grand finals and has since only been topped by Manly’s 40-0 defeat of Melbourne in 2008.
But that was only part of the story. Most fans remember that day for what happened to Langlands.
The famous sports shoe manufacturer Adidas had asked Langlands to wear a pair of white boots into the game.
It would be a Rugby League first.
But unknown to Adidas, Langlands was lucky to be playing at all as he
was carrying a painful leg injury.
Therein lay the problem.
An ill-directed pain-killing injection before the game numbed his right leg and left him a limping shadow of his normal self.
However, the Dragons still had a real chance at half-time, trailing by only 5-0.
There was a heated exchange with renowned St George boss Frank Facer during the interval.
Facer wanted Langlands to quit but Changa refused point blank.
His team-mates say the shouting match was like World War II revisited.
Changa got his way and he went onto the pitch for the second half.
However his leg only got worse.
So, too, did the scoreline.
And all the Dragons fans blamed Langlands … and his white boots.
“I wasn’t being a lair [Australian slang for a flashy, vulgar show-off],” Langlands recalled.
“I got asked by Adidas would I wear them. I said yeah.
“What happened had nothing to do with the boots.”
But that Grand Final must leave haunted him.
He was injured when captain-coach of Australia in the subsequent World Championship and angry about his inability to play the second series of matches in Britain.
One day, Langlands tied the laces of his white boots together and hang them from a goal post at Huddersfield’s Fartown ground.
What finally happened to them after that?
We haven’t a clue!
Perhaps some fan at Huddersfield has the answer?
And maybe Joe Burgess could buy them as a reminder of his own golden boots!
