What value do we, as a community, place on frontline workers?
“Essential” is an adjective synonymous with such roles, but there’s nothing wrong with finding a rugby league analogy for these champions.
Accordingly, we’ll nominate front line workers to be the middle forwards of our communities. And when it comes to police officers, as the quote goes, they face what we fear.
When we are most at threat, these are the people who lay the platform for victory. They face the foe, take the hit ups, do the hard yards in our defence.
It is an occupation which can bring its members face to face with people in the best of times and the worst of times. We can only imagine the unheralded stories of these brave law enforcement professionals.
The story that we present for you here is about our local Parramatta and Cumberland police officers creating better times. It’s about how their involvement with rugby league is making a difference to themselves and the community.
The Parramatta Leagues Police Rugby League Football Club is comprised of current serving officers stationed around the Parramatta district. They participate in the NSW Rugby League Police Football Association Competition.
Dating back to 1970, the competition has a proud history. There was even a time when officers would be rostered on to their teams, such was the value in taking the title. Parramatta Police competed in the first year of that premiership, and after eventually withdrawing from the competition, did not participate again until 2012.
At its peak, up to 18 teams were involved. Even as recently as 2017, it was played over 10 fortnightly rounds.
Collision!
In a major revamp, the competition since 2018 has been staged over the course of a week at regional venues in NSW such as Port Macquarie and in 2021, Tamworth. Eight clubs participate – Parramatta, Bankstown, Country South Illawarra, Hunter Region, Manly, Macarthur, Penrith, and Eastern Suburbs.
The players then stay involved during the year through representative footy and a number of Shield matches played between teams to create events and special days.
Essentially, the demands of fielding teams from limited player pools over an extended season have now been replaced by finding players prepared to take annual leave along with the costs of travel, accommodation, jerseys and equipment.
The Cumberland Throw spoke to Parramatta’s Captain/Coach Anton Sahyoun about his experience wearing the Blue and Gold in competition matches, and how the team’s involvement in rugby league is making an impact out in the community.
Line break coming
Anton recounted the triumphs and trials of both his team and the competition in a wide-ranging discussion with Sixties and Forty20. His conviction and passion for the greatest code of them all rang true throughout the interview and his pride in leading Parramatta to a breakthrough premiership in 2017 and a second title in 2019 bled through our conversation.
Joining the team as a probationary constable in 2013 and taking on the captaincy in 2015, Anton’s drive to elevate the Parramatta side from cellar dwellers to title holders and community leaders has been a rewarding process.
Anton credits the coaching of former Wests Magpies coach, Steve Ghosn in 2017 for taking the club to the next level.
“Between 2012 and 2014, the team didn’t win a game. We improved from 2015, but when Steve came on board he made a few changes which served the team well and got us our first Premiership. His different vision changed everything and gave us our win.”
The pride in winning the first title
Like any player involved with the first title for a club, the euphoria of that 2017 grand final win over Country South Illawarra before a packed crowd at Cabramatta will remain with Anton and his team mates forever.
Of course, keeping a team together when the profession is based on shift work is not easy, and the ongoing logistical struggles of the competition would resonate with anyone who has ever been involved in amateur sport – let alone rugby league. Every member of the squad is expected to budget time and money for a full week of carnival football. That goes without mentioning the weekly training sessions and trial games that also need to be factored in.
Anton revealed that the involvement of the Parramatta Leagues Club by way of an annual grant, helps kick start each season and keeps the premiership dream alive. The annual grant represents two pillars of the Western Sydney community coming together to share a passion and a great cause.
“The truth is, without Parramatta Leagues Club, our season is not possible. They provide us with a grant for the year which helps to limit the financial burden of travel, accommodation and match day expenses for each officer. It makes it possible to retain and recruit officers to our team. Without that backing, our club isn’t in the position that we are at the moment.”
After some adjustment to the one week format in 2018, and with PLC on board with their assistance, Parramatta police took out the title at Port Macquarie in 2019 with a grand final victory over Manly. Could there be anything sweeter!
Sweet, sweet victory!
Talking about the team, Anton emphasises the pride that they take in their defence and their capacity to inflict damage when they shift the ball out wide. For a number of the players, rewards have come via City, NSW and Australian Police team representation.
Surprisingly the biggest rivalry is found in their annual trial match opponents, Eastern Suburbs. Also known as the latte brigade or cake eaters in police footy circles, Anton believes that the Roosters are the benchmark opponent. The rivalry is founded in the relative success of each team over the last five years. The battle will continue on February 26 this year when both teams meet in the prelude to the Carnival.
With the aid of the PLC grant, Anton and his team mates have gone on to not only achieve premiership glory but also to represent their state and country.
An Australian Police representative player, Anton couldn’t imagine life without rugby league.
Anton with his Aussie kit.
“I’ve played since I was 5 years old, when my mum, on her own, took me to every training session, every game. I’ve coached since I was 18, from under 6s, under 7s, under 8’s, the juniors. Every time I have a football in my hands, I’m happy. Like me, the boys in the police teams love the representative footy. The trips for City/Country, interstate and even to New Zealand are what the boys love to play for. In 2018 we were lucky enough to play against New Zealand at Mt Smart Stadium before a Warriors game. It was a cracker of a match.”
Anton continued, “Playing rugby league is very much about meeting new people and making friends. It’s why parents get their kids involved. It helps them to build confidence and make friends, and we need more of that.“
Back on Police Footy, the very existence of the club and the competition itself provides an important outlet for one of the most challenging and confronting professions in the country.
Mental health is a subject that has been gaining important traction in the NRL in recent years. For that, we as fans at TCT are hugely thankful. Once a taboo subject, the community as a whole has become far more comfortable in approaching the subject matter in an understanding manner and it is no less true for front-line emergency workers. The importance of the partnership between the Parramatta Leagues Club and the Parramatta Leagues Police Football Club can’t be understated for that reason alone.
The emotion in Anton’s voice is obvious when he speaks about it.
“We see some stuff that, sometimes you wish you hadn’t seen it. But we understand that’s our job.”
In a profession where members are present for a mixture of the best of times and often the worst of times in people’s lives, having a positive outlet in sport is critical in assisting the mental health challenges that come their way.
The benefits of the Police involvement in rugby league also extends to the greater Parramatta community.
Elie El-Jammal, former president Dan Wiggins and Anton Sahyoun
“We have a lot of people engaged in community outreach. Our team manager, Elie El-Jammal, is very active with PCYC and schools in the Cumberland district. Our female colleagues become involved in our Special Oz Tag and Touch Footy days which are part of the calendar. This coming year – and hopefully we aren’t prevented from doing so due to COVID – we want to extend our special days to more schools throughout the Parramatta district.”
Rugby league has a rich tradition of police officers who’ve participated at the highest levels. Brian Moore, Bumper Farrell, Johnny Raper, Craig Young, Paul Osborne and Rod Silva are players who readily come to mind. Kevin Roberts, Bill Harrigan, Tony Archer, Paul Simpkins and Sean Hampstead all served our game as referees.
It may not be currently possible for professional footballers to combine a career in law enforcement with the demands of full-time NRL, but dedicated police officers are still making a difference via our great game.
We congratulate and thank Anton and his Parramatta Leagues Police Rugby League Football Club team mates for their community work and their rugby league achievements.
Without doubt, they’ll continue to make a difference.
.Eels forever!
The Cumberland Throw
Blue and Gold meets the Thin Blue Line. Great to see the leagues club supporting the growth of the game.
I’d like to see a time when searching the NRL website for the word “police” brings up search results about this fantastic competition – not details of players being suspended whilst being investigated.
Great article Sixties.
How true Trouser – we live in hope of such days, but I guess it’s the very very small minority like that who get the wrong headlines. Yeah, I’d much rather be involved in news like this.
Well done boys great story and well done to the Parramatta Police they sure go through a lot and you can tell through your story that it means a lot to them, also good to read that the leagues club helps out. Well written and thanks.
Thanks Joe. I had a number of conversations with Anton in the lead up to this post. Great bloke. Loves his footy too. Our extended chat with him will be in this week’s podcast.
I once heard a policeman say that they have to deal with the 5% of the community that chooses a life of crime.
Unfortunately they are dealing with these people 95% of the time.
It takes a special person to front up for this type of vocation. All power to them. They deserve all of the respect we can give them
And as Anton will explain in our chat for the podcast, they are often first on scene when other emergency services call outs are made. So much respect to them.
A wonderful report sixties.
If one goes back in years, in the days of the old RL Week, there was a huge amount of promotion of the many teams and where they all played, there was a 4 page spread on the various state rural/regional teams, also across Australia in all the states, the pages included the scores, wins etc in the paper, that IIRC came out each Wednesday and the pages were all up to date for the previous weekend.
In those teams, there were Police teams who played, some locations had their own police teams while others had police in their towns teams where they needed the extras.
In one years annual and the whole collection of the RLW and seasons annual, and they sit somewhere in another persons collection of memorabilia and I have none. However, in one particular year I remember where in WA & NT they organised and it lasted a few years with an actual police comp by itself for a couple of seasons until ping pong started to take over.
There were also other areas around NSW and the likes of Victoria, Qld that also had their own comps as well. The games also had Police refs adjudicating.
Thanks Colin. And thank you for sharing this info. After my conversations with Anton, I know he’s passionate about his footy and interested in the history of the comp. This might give him an avenue to explore.
Hope its of use.
I had a stack of old programs covering games in the 60’s & into the 70’s, another big collection that has gone missing. – Sadly.
I do remember that there was a Sydney competition that included one of University teams, think it was Sydney Uni and played out of a field bordered by Parramatta Rd and Missenden Rd. Rah Rah’s one week and RL the next. That field was a training and playing ground for a Police team.
The old Tertiary comp perhaps?
No, I believe the Uni team as I said was Rah Rah, the police team trained there, as in those days there was a training academy for them in the area.
The police played in one of what we would deem to be 2nd or 3rd division.
Some of the old magazines would have been good to look through.
sixties I wonder if the old RLW have been preserved in any sort of history files at the papers, clubs or other locations.
Geoff Prenter is the primary fellow behind the old RLW wonder if he would know if there is copies stored somewhere? Likely the best option for info.
Cheers.
Loved the report, thank you. It illustrates quite wonderfully how the passion for a sport and a pride in your local identity can, when combined add so much to a community – both the police officers themselves and the wider community.
A most arresting article. Well done, thank you.
You’re welcome Jim. I really enjoyed talking to Anton and learning about how important it is to the officers involved. It’s a passion – one that helps them in their occupation and that also provides an avenue to connect with the community.
I can recall blokes from Parra in the early sixties who were coppers.
Bob Lee, Kenny Cluff, were part of the 1964 Third Grade Premiership team, Kenny Foord, Lindsay Armour were Parramatta first graders in the police force.
Cheers Parra Pete. Your historical knowledge always adds value to our posts. Those were certainly different times.
Maybe memory fails me,Joe Turski?
Hi remember his name. Hopefully Parra Pete remembers whether he was a police officer.
Hi Parra Pete,
Ken Foord is my grandfather and I have found several threads that you have commented on about him in the past.
I’d be interested in hearing any other stories you may have in regards to my grandfather.
Hope to hear from you.
Thank you
Bec
The Cumberland throw is under rated love reading your stories.
Thanks Anon. Glad to have you on board.