Newtown RLFC

The Newtown Jets name their Finest of the Century

Newtown Rugby League Football Club Centenary Dinner

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Legendary Rugby League hard man Frank "Bumper" Farrell was chosen as a front-rower in and captain of the Newtown Rugby League Football Club's Team of the Century, named at the club's Centenary Dinner held at the Petersham Town Hall on Saturday night.

Newtown RLFC Team of the Century

A crowd of more than 350 people saluted Newtown's elite 18-man squad, with Warren Ryan (coach of the century), Tom Raudonikis (greatest imported player) and John Raper (greatest junior product) also receiving Centenary awards.

All of the 21 centenary award winners were named as the initial inductees into the Newtown RLFC Hall of Fame which was inaugurated at Saturday night's ceremony, while former Jets player and coach Colin Murphy was foreshadowed as a Hall of Fame inductee for 2009.

Saturday night's function was most professionally compered by Graeme Hughes from 2SM and Marrickville Mayor Dimitri Thanos was one of the special guests.

Several of the Team of the Century members were represented by family descendants, many of whom had travelled big distances to be at this once in a lifetime event. The evening was rated as an outstanding success with many guests commenting that the Newtown club had staged an event worthy of clubs with far greater financial and logistical resources.

Night's highlights

• The Coda String Quartet's performance in the Town Hall foyer that lent a decidedly up-market ambience to this formerly most proletarian of Rugby League clubs
• Tim Freedman from the Whitlams, along with Perry Keyes and several of Sydney's best sessions musicians who turned on an excellent musical interlude, including an evocative rendition of the theme from Shaft, the adopted theme music of the Channel Seven-Rex Mossop Rugby League telecasts
• The friendly inter-mingling of players past and present
• The genuine emotion of Test great Lionel Williamson on receiving his award as one of the wingers of the century
• The joy of family members receiving the framed certificates of those Team of the Century members who had passed on
• The 1930's art deco Petersham Town Hall was an inspired choice of location for Newtown's centenary dinner; the overwhelming good will and palpable camaraderie of the night
• The eye-catching Bumper Farrell and Tom Raudonikis banners at the entrance to the Petersham Town Hall lent a wonderfully Cold War-Stalinist Cult of the Personality look to the building in the early evening.
• The huge crowd that "batted on" afterwards at the nearby premises of one of our major sponsors, the Petersham RSL Club.

A photo as your memento of the night

You can check out an extensive catalogue of photos from last Saturday night on the website of Gary Sutherland Photography.

You can purchase any photos from the Centenary Dinner or from Gary's entire catalogue by emailing gsphotography@ozemail.com.au or by phoning 0433 011 908.

Major sponsors of the Newtown Jets
Choose the products & services of the businesses who support your team.

Bowlers Club of NSW
Front of Jersey Sponsor

Petersham RSL Club
Rear of Jersey Sponsor

SGE Credit Union
Jets Sleeve Sponsor

Blueprint Management Group
Shorts sponsor

Sydney Airport
Junior Jets sponsor

Labelcraft
Major Sponsor