Meeting Players current and ex and other celebrities

[Random Rooster]

In around 1994 i went on a pub crawl with a Kiwi mate of mine....and met up with Kiwi mates of his....and we all ended up going to one of those guys place in Nth Bondi to kick on & Russell Crowe ( i think he was only was known for the movie Romper Stomper at the time) was there and we got tanked & stoned. Rusty was witty but someone bought out an acoustic guitar and he really bored the shit out of us.

I did a security job on a boat that had a crazy party on Sydney harbour and KISS were onboard. Ace Frehley was hammered before he got on and he was out of control but everyone loved him. We had to keep telling him to put his dick back in his pants....he just loved whipping it out for no reason.

Ive met a lot of Roosters players over the years but there was one standout and that was Anthony Minichiello. The most down to earth, non pretentious person you could ever meet. I met him at Star City doing a promotion in a year he was out with his back injury- i just introduced myself and we ended up chatting for 30 minutes- and he probably asked more questions about me (things like where i grew up and my family) than i did of him. Then i was at the Sheaf in Double Bay a couple of years later and he saw me and came over and remembered my name and everything about me-i was stoked. I had my girlfriend with me, who later became my wife, and she still says ive never looked at her like i did at Mini that night. Well hello!!!

[Tom Verlaine's Ghost]

About 10 years ago, through a chance meeting on ebay with his then girlfriend, I got to visit Neddy Smith at Long Bay. It was a nerve wracking build up - I'd never been into a gaol before, let alone met someone of Ned's reputation. Despite being much diminished by Parkinson's disease, he was still a very imposing figure, with a cold, menacing stare. At one point he saw me looking at his hands. "What are you looking at?"

I laughed. "Just the size of your hands, mate."

He made a fist and held it up to my face. It nearly covered my entire face. Sledgehammers. As someone remarked to me a few years later: "Some men are built for their work." Indeed.

But anyway, he was very charming, polite and friendy. He had tears in his eyes when he recounted his experiences as a juvenile at Tamworth Boys' Home, where he was starved, bashed, tortured and brutalized.

It was 2 hours I'll never forget. I managed to take a copy of his book in (Ned's visitors were afforded certain privileges) and he signed it, "Walk tall and **** them all."

[Rooster1908]

Other than a few NRL players the only famous person I have met was Tim Farriss from INXS in about 2016 and 2917 after he severed his finger .He used to live in Kangaroo Valley area near where we are in Shoalhaven .The young blokes at work didn't have a clue they were meeting rock royalty but as a massive INXS fan I was stoked . Absolute top bloke and loved to chat

[The Skeez]

About 10 years ago, through a chance meeting on ebay with his then girlfriend, I got to visit Neddy Smith at Long Bay. It was a nerve wracking build up - I'd never been into a gaol before, let alone met someone of Ned's reputation.

A chance meeting on eBay with Neddy Smiths girlfriend? Huh?

And you went to visit him gaol?

[Roosterfarian]

vedder strikes me as surprisingly decent

Sole survivor out of that bunch. His contemporaries have all died down that drug-fueled depressed path mun.

[Tom Verlaine's Ghost]

A chance meeting on eBay with Neddy Smiths girlfriend? Huh?

And you went to visit him gaol?

Yeah, I have always been interested in the Sydney underworld scene of the 50s, 60, 70s and 80s. I was on ebay one night and I noticed a signed copy of Ned's first book. I wondered how the seller had procured the signature, so I messaged the seller. The seller turned out to be Ned's girlfriend, raising some cash. We got to talking. A few years earlier I had published a small book of poems about Ned's life. Naturally she wanted to see a copy, so I sent her one. She then showed it to Ned. By now I was shitting bricks. But he was happy enough with it, apart from one or two things, and then wanted copies for all his kids and grandkids. Naturally enough, I was happy to send them. It was then that he told Belinda that I could come for a visit if I wanted. I thought long and hard about it, but in the end decided it was a one-off opportunity to enter into a world that was completely foreign to my own, so I did it. Belinda made the arrangements and we met at Kingsford McDonald's. around the corner from Long Bay, and off I went. What an experience!

[Paddo Colt 61]

[QUOTE=Tom Verlaine's Ghost; "....He had tears in his eyes when he recounted his experiences as a juvenile at Tamworth Boys' Home, where he was starved, bashed, tortured and brutalized."

Tamworth turned out a lot of wrong 'uns. There was a guy in Paddo in the late 50s early 60s who had spent most of his childhood in Juvie (as had a few others). His name was Johnny Regan (John Stuart Regan if you want to look him up) and even as youngster he was a sociopath given to extreme violent reactions.
Kids then used to play in the jungle like grounds of the Scottish Hospital and one time Regan, fresh out of detention and living in nearby Liverpool St, turned up and told all the kids that he was now the boss, lined them up and led them in callisthenics which he then scheduled for each following afternoon. If group "members" failed to show, he'd march the whole troop, military style, around to the homes of those absent and remonstrate with their parents - it was clearly behaviour straight out of Juvie in the 50s.
After that, as a young man, his reputation as a pimp and standover guy who indulged in over the top violence became legend. At one point he was the focus of an investigation into the disappearance of his girlfriend's infant son whom he had been babysitting.
Finally, he was shot dead in Marrickville and there was, reportedly, sustained cheering out at Long Bay when the news of his passing reached there.
Never played for the Colts. We had standards.

[Tom Verlaine's Ghost]

[QUOTE=Paddo Colt 61;n864480][QUOTE=Tom Verlaine's Ghost; "....He had tears in his eyes when he recounted his experiences as a juvenile at Tamworth Boys' Home, where he was starved, bashed, tortured and brutalized."

Tamworth turned out a lot of wrong 'uns. There was a guy in Paddo in the late 50s early 60s who had spent most of his childhood in Juvie (as had a few others). His name was Johnny Regan (John Stuart Regan if you want to look him up) and even as youngster he was a sociopath given to extreme violent reactions.
Kids then used to play in the jungle like grounds of the Scottish Hospital and one time Regan, fresh out of detention and living in nearby Liverpool St, turned up and told all the kids that he was now the boss, lined them up and led them in callisthenics which he then scheduled for each following afternoon. If group "members" failed to show, he'd march the whole troop, military style, around to the homes of those absent and remonstrate with their parents - it was clearly behaviour straight out of Juvie in the 50s.
After that, as a young man, his reputation as a pimp and standover guy who indulged in over the top violence became legend. At one point he was the focus of an investigation into the disappearance of his girlfriend's infant son whom he had been babysitting.
Finally, he was shot dead in Marrickville and there was, reportedly, sustained cheering out at Long Bay when the news of his passing reached there.
Never played for the Colts. We had standards.

[/QUOTE]

Ah, Johnny Regan, yes. He was known as "The Magician" - cause everyone who hung around him disappeared ...

Ned wrote about him in his second book, "Catch and Kill Your Own".

Tamworth Boys Home was a terrible place. Ned said it was the worst institution he was ever in.

[bondi paul]

The romanticism of bring back the biff and for nefarious characters is farcical.

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Yeah, I have always been interested in the Sydney underworld scene of the 50s, 60, 70s and 80s. I was on ebay one night and I noticed a signed copy of Ned's first book. I wondered how the seller had procured the signature, so I messaged the seller. The seller turned out to be Ned's girlfriend, raising some cash. We got to talking. A few years earlier I had published a small book of poems about Ned's life. Naturally she wanted to see a copy, so I sent her one. She then showed it to Ned. By now I was shitting bricks. But he was happy enough with it, apart from one or two things, and then wanted copies for all his kids and grandkids. Naturally enough, I was happy to send them. It was then that he told Belinda that I could come for a visit if I wanted. I thought long and hard about it, but in the end decided it was a one-off opportunity to enter into a world that was completely foreign to my own, so I did it. Belinda made the arrangements and we met at Kingsford McDonald's. around the corner from Long Bay, and off I went. What an experience!

Ned: Hey guys, ok if I pop out for a while and catch up with someone?

Warder: I guess so, meeting who and where?

Ned: Tom Verlaine's Ghost at Maccas just round the corner.

Warder: Ok, be back before dark ok?

Ned: Will do....bye.

Warder: Bye.

[rented tracksuit]

No it was "But Wait, there's more " oh and the free set of steak knives if you called and placed an order in the specified time period. I know people who ordered via this Demtel company on TV within the time period - mmm the free steak knives had run out.

Don't know what was more annoying those info adds or the call me adds after 12 am .

That’s what it used to be but now days with the advertising for McGraths it is “You couldn’t ask for more”.

You dont get free steak knives with your Kia Cerato.

[The Skeez]

A few years earlier I had published a small book of poems about Ned's life.

Share one or two could ya Ghost?

[Paddo Colt 61]

Cynicism Jax. Tch...tch......but I do like the dramatic dialogue technique, where'd ya get it? Soon you'll be voting Green and sayin' nice fings about Souffs.

[Paddo Colt 61]

While on the subject of speech impediments, I met a fella one who was intending to trial "wif Cronuvver Suverlam". Wouldnta been you Jax?

[Jacks Fur Coat]

Cynicism Jax. Tch...tch......but I do like the dramatic dialogue technique, where'd ya get it? Soon you'll be voting Green and sayin' nice fings about Souffs.

No cynicism....just humour/parody like most of my gear.

TVG will appreciate it, us old Tamworth boys stick together.