THE FRONT ROWERS LAMENT
He wanders the field, playing our time honoured game,
A portly old prop still searching for fame,
Looking for something that he’s seldom seen,
A gap to run through, which isn’t a dream.
He starts each game with promise and resolve,
But it takes a short time for this to dissolve,
For gone are the days, when he would run all the time,
And into the backline, he often would chime.
Now as he staggers from one end to the other,
Raising a jog seems such a bother,
As young ones will learn, there’s something that’s true,
Conserve your energy, or the gap you won’t fit through.
He’s been waiting now for many a year,
That elusive gap must surely appear,
For soon is the time to hang up his boots,
And put on his slippers, like the other old coots.
Then one day like a bolt out of the blue,
A gap did appear for him to go through,
As wide as the heads, it was his for the taking,
So why was it now in his boot he was shaking.
This was his time that he was waiting for,
His nippy young half had set him up to score,
As he glided across that firm green top,
They would now have to deal with this ageing prop.
He shook off the shackles of his leaden feet,
And moved into action this challenge to meet,
The pass was accepted and now he was set,
Just eighty more yards for his glory to get.
When in the clear the jibes they did come,
“Catch the old bloke, he’s just a bum”,
But those calls that came, just steeled him more,
And made him determined, right to the core.
First it was the lock he bumped off like a breeze,
Then trampled the fullback with audacious ease,
His centre loomed up and made a loud call,
He had to be kidding, get your own ball.
In no time at all the yards disappeared,
Onward and upward his frame it careered,
Fifty, then forty, now thirty was all,
The glory was his, of this he was sure.
Then fate stepped in and dealt a cruel blow,
His legs like tree trunks, did suddenly slow,
So he passed that ball his cherished prize,
To someone faster, younger to show he was wise.
He was heading back when he heard them shout,
And he cursed that gap for being so far out,
But this was nothing new to him,
Just another mishap, he’s cop on the chin.
The crowd had gone wild at the deeds of this bloke,
And cheered to a man till horse in the throat,
Then they subsided and sat once more,
To see if this Goliath would finally score.
As they gave him oxygen back in his half,
The smile on his face quickly turned to a laugh,
For he’s found that gap, that had eluded him for so long,
To prove it was weak, and he was so strong.
By Old Joe Robo
