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After 40 years in the wilderness, the notion of the Newtown Jets re-entering the top flight of rugby league in Australia is perhaps the most exciting thing that could happen to the game since … well, the Dolphins.
With the club reportedly eyeing off the developments in Perth around a potential 18th NRL franchise and officials keen to maintain the iconic brand, the game could do far worse than use it to add some passion and history to the next expansion move.
In 1908, the team then known as the Bluebags was born at the Newtown Town Hall. It was as working class an area as you could find at the time and far from the eclectic melting pot Newtown has now become.
Now, my kids head there in the search of rare vinyl records, a soy latte and a gluten free, dairy free or vegan treat to bring home to their dad. However back in the day, the people of Newtown were hard-core rugby league folk who flocked to the team’s home ground at Henson Park.
It is simply wonderful that a trip to the ground to this very day presents a terrific spectacle and a brilliant day of nostalgia. Newtown became the Jets in 1973 and after a departure from the NSWRL competition at the end of the 1983 season, was reborn in the 1990s and is now competing in the NSW Cup in 2023.
A spectator holds an Order of Service booklet as he attends the Tommy Raudonikis Memorial Service at the SCG in 2021. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Little were Jets fans to know during the Tommy Raudonikis-inspired brilliant run to the decider in 1981, where the Eels won the first of a hat-trick of premierships, that it was to be their last hurrah, as the powers at be grew ever concerned about the long-term future of the club.
As the game grew, the financial pressures of competing in the top tier simply became too great and the changing demographic of the area had a significant impact of attendance and the provision of local players likely to work their way into the team.
My grandmother’s house sat on the corner of Pine Street and Wardell Road in Marrickville, just a six-minute walk from Henson Park. I still have vivid memories of watching all three grades after the short walk, seated on the expansive hill and being inspired as a very young and ambitious footballer.
Once, a violent storm swept across Henson, sending the entire attendance into the grandstand on the opposite side of the ground. How we all fit in I will never know.
On another occasion when the Bulldogs were visiting, I recall watching Canterbury great Garry Hughes running around in reserve grade and being stunned when, after his boot had slipped from his foot, a Newtown player threw it into the crowd and it landed with a thud alongside me.
My old man was a Jets fan from birth and he bought me a jersey at five, in a desperate attempt to steer me away from the Bulldogs, who I had fallen in love with after being born in Canterbury Hospital and living in the club’s catchment area.
Mum was far less interested in the game, yet attended matches at Henson with her extended family. Her ‘Uncle Snow’ was blind and apparently, after finding a relatively flat spot to sit and watch the game in the concourse, they would face him the wrong way, as poor Snow kept asking for updates on the progress of the game.
Strange family my lot.
Yet, in a funny way, that history is exactly what the game of rugby league thrives on and could benefit from again with a return of the Jets in Perth.
The NRL is a better competition for having foundation clubs South Sydney and Eastern Suburbs still competing, it is perhaps the most passionate match of any season. Whilst someone diluted, the presence of Western Suburbs and Balmain in the morphed Wests Tigers is also important and keeps many long-term supporters still interested in the game.
There is rarely a more passionate contest than when the Rabbitohs meet the Roosters. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)
Despite numerous efforts, it has been sad that the Bears have not made what seemed like a logical return to the competition, based on the Central Coast.
However, casting aside the frustration of long-standing North Sydney fans, the NRL has a golden opportunity to reconnect with the Jets mob and build a whole new wave of support in Perth, a town not unfamiliar with a rugby league presence.
Just imagine the Perth Jets returning to Sydney for a couple of annual home matches at Henson Park (after a stadium upgrade no doubt) and taking on the Roosters or Bunnies. It is simply a mouth-watering concept.
While not too far from a pipe dream at this stage, there does appear to be hope. Should a Perth-based Jets come to fruition, the Bears would be the last remaining foundation club still in existence that could be brought back into the fold.
There would be something circular about that and it would remove some of the disenfranchisement that was brought about during the Super League era, the mergers and the extinguishing of clubs that took place late last century.
Please bring back the Jets and make them a success in Perth. The NRL will be better off for it.