Local boy Victor Radley has his own cheer squad in the shape of the Roosters-mad Bronte Boys
YOU’LL hear them before you see them on grand final day. A pack of almost 100 Roosters maniacs, bearing signs, painting their chests, bellowing their songs for their man, Roosters hit man Victory Radley.
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YOU’LL hear them before you see them on grand final day at ANZ Stadium.
A pack of almost 100 Roosters maniacs, led by a red, white and blue version of the Macho Man Randy Savage, bearing signs, painting their chests, bellowing their songs for their man, Victor The Inflictor, to take down the Storm and bring the trophy back east.
These are the Bronte Boys, Victor Radley’s rabid cheer squad. They reckon they’re the biggest fan club for a single player in the league and good luck proving them wrong.
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“They’re bloody legends, those boys. They get a massive crew together every week, make signs, and I think there was about 30 of them with paint,” Radley told The Daily Telegraph.
“They’re a bunch of legends. I remember seeing them when I first went out for warm up, getting loud with the big sign.
“You can’t get a better group of boys to come to the game to support you.”
It’s a rare thing for Roosters fans to cheer on a local boy. The likes of Tom Symonds and Luke Ricketson are few and far between, so when they get ‘em they love ‘em
Radley has fast become one of the most popular players on the star-studded roster and given he’s the first top grader to come out of Bronte in over 80 years it’s no wonder he inspires this kind of passion.
“Dave Brown’s dad was the first professional lifeguard here,” said the leader of the gang, Roosters superfan Robert Bruns.
“He’s the last Bronte local Rooster. Victor’s following in those footsteps.
“I’m 40, went to my first game when I was six months old. It’s the first time in my life I’ve been able to cheer on someone from the beach.
“He’s not big, he just goes hard. From when he started it didn’t matter who you were, what your name or reputation was, he was after them.”
Macho Madness and Rooster Mania! pic.twitter.com/ygMg4S1HWF
— Rob Bruns (@nearlytheGOAT) September 27, 2018
Bruns and the rest of the Bronte Boardriders have been with Radley since the beginning because he’s one of them and always has been.
“It’s all Bronte kids, Bronte guys who grew up in the area and hang out down the beach. We’re all surfers,” said Bruns.
They’ve gone to nippers with Radley, mucked around on the beach with Radley, played junior footy with Radley, surfed with Radley.
They know his mum, his dad and his three brothers and they know why the other three Radley boys are nicknamed Man Head, Milkman and Snotface.
The Roosters aren’t called Eastern Suburbs anymore but when they were it was on the back of players like Radley and fans like the Bronte boys.
South Sydney people like to say the Roosters don’t have a soul, but they do. It just takes someone like Radley to bring it out.
It doesn’t hurt either Radley is a true maniac on the field and plays as though he’s never learned he’s not 120 kgs.
That all-action style has made him one of the most popular Roosters players in some time, even outside the east.
But his loudest and loudest fans will always be the fellas who know him best.
They were there in force for Radley’s first grade debut last season, over a 100 of them, and the preliminary final against South Sydney was one of the first times the 20-year old couldn’t hear them.
“I can hear them every week, except for last week,” Radley said.
“Normally they’re sitting next to the tunnel, getting loud, especially when I’m sitting on the bench and they’re getting into me.
“I think there’ll be a big crew of them (at the grand final). Tickets are expensive this week, so I won’t blame them if they drop out, but it should be a big crew there.”
There will be. Bruns has a bus heading to ANZ Stadium and it’ll be filled to the brim. They’ll paint Radley’s name on their chests, hoist the Victor The Inflictor banners.
Bruns has been working on a pretty impressive impression of wrestling legend the Macho Man Randy Savage in the hope the cream will rise to the top, brother.
They’ll do their bit and go mad for their man as he attempts to bring a title back to the district he’s lived in all his life.
“The Roosters don’t have the biggest supporter base overall and that is what it is, I’m not ashamed of that. But the hardcore fans are there,” Bruns said.
“At Bronte we’re doing our part supporting Victor.”
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