Manly hatred still burns for legend Magpie Bruce ‘The Sloth’ Gibbs
Forty-years on and hate for the Silvertails refuses to die for Bruce ‘The Sloth’ Gibbs. In an entertaining interview he chats brawls, face-slapping, Tommy, drinking and today’s game.
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Forty-years on and hate for the Silvertail Sea Eagles refuses to die for fiery Fibro Bruce ‘The Sloth’ Gibbs.
The Daily Telegraph interviewed one of rugby league’s great characters in his hometown of Oberon — only to discover the hostility toward Manly still runs deep.
Discussing his time at Wests in the late 1970s, Gibbs spoke about the infamous Silvertails-Fibros days when Manly and Wests clashed violently.
A true character, Gibbs also talked about former Magpie teammates Tom Raudonikis and John ‘Dallas’ Donnelly along with the notorious pre-game face-slapping under then Wests coach Roy Masters.
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SILVERTAILS-FIBROS
It started during an exhibition match at Melbourne in 1978 and erupted for the following three years. The brawls were fierce and ugly.
So did Gibbs really hate Manly?
“Bloody oath – with every physical part of our being. I still do,” Gibbs said. “Forty years later and I still hate every one of those Manly players.
“They had all the money and we had nothing. We were playing thanks to raffle tickets. I was the second highest paid player at Wests and I was getting $5000 a year. I think Tommy was getting $7000.
“Manly all lived on the northside and I was working six days a week and up until 11am on Sunday on game day. I used to turn up to the game dressed in work gear.
“Roy came up with the Fibros-Silvertails idea to rev us up. The games were violent but it was more entertaining than today’s game. No-one took a step back too far.”
FACE SLAPPING
Wests players would psyche up by slapping each other and punching walls. Fights would break out between teammates pre-game, the entire drama caught by the 60 Minutes cameras in 1979.
“It was to get you into a violent frame of mind, to tell you the truth. That’s what it was,” Gibbs recalled. “Roy used to tell us to warm our faces up — it was designed to get you out of your skin.
“We played Manly one day and when we tossed the coin ‘Dallas’ jobbed one of them while we were swapping ends. It was about mateship for us. If anyone touched any of our players then we were going to get him. We were all country blokes.
“We’d all grab hold of each other and then Les or Dallas would go off. I still think Roy was gee-ing them up to do it, to get everyone going.
“You had to pick the right bloke. You wouldn’t go near Boyd or ‘Dallas’. Me and Graeme O’Grady weren’t very enthusiastic. It got everyone going.”
LIDCOMBE MEMORIES
The dressing rooms had old metal lockers which the Wests players would bang as they screamed out the names of Manly players. Often, Magpies players would enter the field with blood running from their noses.
“You walked into Lidcombe Oval — that was the end of you. Lidcombe was ours. It was intimidating,” Gibbs said. “The crowds were brilliant. It was very quiet and then Roy (Masters, then coach) would start.
“Roy was the master of manipulation. He would build up and build and by the time we went out we were ready to tear your head off.”
TOMMY
The heart and soul of Wests. The battler. The champion. The leader. The instigator. Tough. Tommy.
“The Kraut,” Gibbs said, recalling Raudonikis’ nickname in those days. “Didn’t you see his haircut? Dallas gave him that nickname. Tommy was a phenomenal man.
“He could intimidate. Referees were frightened of him. He would give it to them. He would say to the refs: ‘You let that bloke hit one of my players again and we’re going to bash him’. The ref would shit himself.
“Tommy was always battling for money and that’s how he played. When it was $200 a win, Tommy didn’t care how he got it. He’d kill blokes to get it. He played for his mates, we all played for each other.”
THE SLOTH
His nickname became legendary.
“I’ve only got three toes on one foot,” Gibbs said. “So Dallas called me The Sloth. I asked him what Sloth meant? He said: “Three-toed, slow-moving, tree-dwelling mammal.’ Dallas gave everyone nicknames. Graeme O’Grady was Snake, Les Boyd was Gum Leaves.
“My foot got crushed in a forest machine when I was about 12. They had to cut them off because the toes just died. Every bone in my foot was broken. The crushing buggered the blood vessels so they died.
“Up here (in Oberon) no one calls me that. They call me Burger for some reason. (Gibbs is 140kgs. He hit 205kgs but lost 100kgs through Jenny Craig).
THE DRINKING
Gibbs and Donnelly were Wests’ props during the late 1970s. Uncompromising, uncomplicated, fearless, larrikins.
“Dallas invited me to the pub one day when I arrived at Wests. He said to me: ‘We mightn’t win too many games but we’ll have a f…ing good time’,” Gibbs said
“We won a lot of games and we had a real good time. It was unbelievable some of the things we got up to but you’d never be able to put them in the paper. We were both banned from Wests Leagues Club.
“We’d mostly drink at Concord RSL Club until Dallas got us banned there too. We’d also drink at the Railway Hotel at Lidcombe after training.”
WHERE HE IS NOW?
Gibbs runs BWG Haulage on the outskirts of Oberon.
“I have a bolt transport company business, basically wood chip, a bit of sawdust, bark and some horticultural down in Sydney,” he said.
“I don’t go out too much. I used to smoke until I had a heart attack and gave up. I can’t stand the idiots in pubs anymore. I drink for effect, not to be sociable. I’ve got no sporting outlets.
“I was born and bred here. I played here from under 5s until first grade in 1975. I was part of the last Oberon side to win the grand final in first grade.”
TODAY’S GAME
Gibbs isn’t a fan.
“There’s no class,” he said. “Dummy-half runs and then a high kick hoping the fullback spills it. There’s no structure, in my opinion.
“I don’t watch a lot of it. I usually watch the finals but I won’t watch Wests because Wests aren’t Wests. I don’t think they have any mateship left in the game either. They are all robots, no characters. I’d hate to be playing now.”
WESTS TIGERS
Did he support the merger of his former club with Balmain back in 1999? No way.
“What annoys me is that Balmain has no money, Wests put in all the money so why isn’t it Wests? Apparently the NRL say we can’t go back because the franchise is Wests Tigers.
“Wests should have been like Souths and dug their heels in. It really pisses me off.”
Originally published as Manly hatred still burns for legend Magpie Bruce ‘The Sloth’ Gibbs