TUMUT’S Peter Fardell has had a great career in rugby league, and he got to celebrate a big part of it on Saturday night.
Peter coached the West Belconnen Warriors in Canberra to a premiership in 1996, and he attended a 50-year anniversary reunion of the club at the Rex Hotel last Saturday, after being driven there by fellow Club Tumut bowls player Ray Blanchard.
“It was the most sensational night of my life; just fantastic,” Peter said.
“Ray went to it with me and had a great night.”
Born in Dubbo in 1947, Peter played both rugby league and union as a junior, and went on to play in the Canberra competition.
He then played for the Balmain Tigers in the late 1960s, winning a third-grade premiership with them in 1967.
He made his first-grade debut in a side featuring Arthur Beetson.
He was part of the Balmain squad that pulled off one of the most famous grand final upsets of all, beating South Sydney 11-2, but injury prevented him playing in that grand final.
After finishing up the NSWRL competition (the equivalent of today’s NRL) he returned to and played in Canberra.
In later years he turned to coaching, and proved a natural in this role, winning premierships with the Warriors, Woden Valley Rams and others.
