Touching tale of rugby league’s greatest ever fan Laurie Nichols
A packed-out Leichhardt Oval will host Wests Tigers’ crunch clash with Cronulla. We know one person who would have savoured the match — the legendary Laurie Nichols. Read his incredible story.
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It’s a freezing winter’s night at Leichhardt Oval, torrential rain obscures the view between Balmain players and the fans on the hill.
The hosts have fallen behind, fans are eyeing an early exit, when a familiar voice rises above the downpour.
‘Ellery eats celery, Siro the hero, Garry Jack, world’s greatest back, Wayne Pearce, he’s so fierce, Benny Elias, he’s come to try us, Beetson beats them then he eats ‘em, sound the alarm here comes Alan McMahon’.
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Wearing his beloved Tigers singlet, Laurie Nichols has taken it upon himself to lift the spirits of the drenched crowd.
With a fresh injection of energy, the Leichhardt faithful rise to their feet.
Nichols capitalises.
He sets off along the fence at a gallop, punching the air alongside him.
A pack of kids on the hill follow suit, mimicking every uppercut he throws.
The crowd comes to life, the players lift upon hearing the roars, Nichols’ job is complete.
Balmain great Benny Elias dubbed Nichols “the greatest supporter in history.”
But to the players, he was far more than just a fan.
Balmain royalty in Elias, Steve Roach, Paul Sironen, Arthur Beetson, Keith Barnes and Jack Spencer would eventually carry their great mate out of the church following his death at the turn of the century.
From Sydney’s inner-west to the UK and even Russia, the legendary figure shadow-boxed his way into the hearts of the rugby league community.
It’s 50 years since Balmain won the last of their 11 premierships.
Nichols was responsible for bringing the 1969 grand final’s sole try-scorer and match-winner, Sid Williams, to the foundation club.
So it’s fair to say Nichols would have been smiling from above when the historic side were recently bailed out of financial trouble by joint-venture Western Suburbs who came to the rescue of their ailing league’s club.
The lifeline came just days before Wests Tigers catapulted themselves to the top of the NRL ladder following a Round 2 victory over the New Zealand Warriors.
It was the first time since their inception into the competition at the turn of the century that they’d reached the summit.
While the early season highs are now a distant memory, the Tigers will run on to Leichhardt Oval on Sunday night looking to keep their finals aspirations alive against Cronulla.
There’s not been a more respected figure in Balmain’s 110-year existence than Nichols.
Alongside him for over a decade was club legend Steve Roach, who spoke to The Daily Telegraph about the iconic figure.
“He was the last bloke you saw as you ran on to the field. Laurie yelling support for his team, you look over to the hill and see the sea of orange,” Roach said.
“He was part of the fabric. He was as important as Leichhardt Oval was to anyone at Balmain, he was the number one man.”
While champion players came and went, Nichols never wavered from his post on the hallowed turf of Leichhardt Oval.
He was the soul of Balmain for 40 years.
HOW LEAGUE’S NO.1 SUPPORTER WAS BORN
Given his importance to the Tigers’ identity, you’d be forgiven for thinking Nichols was born on Leichhardt Oval.
In fact his story starts further south — he was born in Cooma in 1922, in the Snowy Mountains of New South Wales. After serving in Papua New Guinea during World War Two with the 2nd Seventeenth Battalion, Nichols returned home to Australia and briefly moved to Leichhardt where he fell in love with the Balmain Tigers.
Later, Nichols made the move to Springwood in the Blue Mountains where he worked as a wool-classer with a bloke named Bob Williams.
Williams had a brother, Sid, who was a pretty handy footballer, so Nichols called in a favour or two and got the youngster a start with the Tigers.’
He didn’t do it because Williams was a Test player in waiting or to try and get something in return.
He did it because Bob was a mate.
Four years later, Williams was a regular first-grader for Balmain and part of the squad that made a giant-killing run to the 1969 grand final.
As 3-1 outsiders, Balmain captured their last premiership as a stand-alone club with an 11-2 victory over the might of South Sydney.
Williams scored the only try of the match and might never have been there if not for Nichols.
As the Balmain faithful celebrated their 11th premiership, the club’s finest hour in living memory and a triumph they’d never see again, Nichols was presented with a jersey that read ‘Number One Supporter’ on the back.
He forged lifelong bonds with many players over several generations. One of his greatest friendships was with Immortal Arthur Beetson. It all began in the toilets at Leichhardt Oval at the beginning of the 1966 season. A disgruntled supporter was giving Nichols his particularly critical thoughts of ‘that new bloody second-rower’. Taking offence to the Beetson bashing, Nichols gave the fan a piece of his mind in defence of the Balmain recruit. Standing behind the bickering fans was Beetson himself, and from that moment the pair never looked back.
Beetson later told The Daily Telegraph: “He wore the black and gold but the bottom line is he was more than just a Balmain supporter, he loved rugby league.”
Indeed, Nichols stood by South Sydney great George Piggins in 1999 when the Rabbitohs were removed from the competition.
SINGLET-WEARING, SHADOW-BOXING SUPER FAN
If you judged Nichols simply by his antics on the sidelines at Leichhardt Oval, you might get the impression that he was a bit of a lunatic. While certainly a little eccentric, more than most, that perception misses the mark.
New players, coaches and supporters needed just a brief conversation with the Balmaniac to dispel any doubts over his nature. He was considered extremely intelligent, charismatic and a true gentleman.
During his 13-year career at Balmain, club legend Paul Sironen forged a strong bond with Nichols.
“He was the grandfather that a lot of blokes had lost or the favourite uncle they never had,” Sironen told The Daily Telegraph.
“Even when he went away wool-classing there would be a three page beautifully written letter to the club.
“We’d put it up on the noticeboard and read it before games and you’d have a smile to yourself as he quipped and gave a few pointers.”
His impact wasn’t confined to Sydney’s inner-west, either.
On one of Nichols’ many tours of the UK — to which he always paid his own way believing the game owed him nothing — he had a stopover in Russia. Nichols proved an instant hit in the Soviet nation.
“I came out of customs wearing my Balmain singlet and the locals thought I was some sort of apparition,” Nichols told Big League at the time.
“They were all people dressed in overcoats and assorted furs. Fair dinkum.
“People came up to me and started to touch me. I must have been photographed a dozen times. It was quite an experience.”
Sironen recalled one of his favourite images of Nichols during the particular visit.
“There’s a picture of him in Red Square in Moscow and it’s blanketed with snow,” Sironen said.
“Laurie’s with a Russian guard with the big fur cap on, and Laurie’s in his Tigers singlet, he was purple. He wore it everywhere over there.”
On Australia’s tour of the UK in 1986 the Kangaroos faced Hull in below zero temperatures. As Nichols led the side down the tunnel in a singlet the crowd erupted in laughter. Dual-international Rex Mossop asked Nichols how he counters the weather on what he regarded as a cold day. Nichols replied, “I put on two singlets.”
Nichols’ support didn’t start and finish with Balmain, either. Queensland royalty Wally Lewis was in Sydney for a clash, and Nichols was on the sideline. Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald at the time, Nichols was devastated at the response from the local crowd.
“One thing that worries me is Australia’s sporting fans,” Nichols said.
“The other day at a game Wally Lewis was introduced to the crowd and they started booing.
“The man is a great player, a great Australian captain and a friend of mine and they start booing.
“That sort of attitude breaks my heart.”
Herron conversion followed by a trademark Laurie Nichols flurry! pic.twitter.com/EJ4LjTRuMd
— Where the 'Hardt is (@WheretheHardtIs) December 13, 2017
ARLC Chairman Peter Beattie recently came under-fire for responding to a Laurie Nichols parody account on Twitter with the reply, ‘Good to see you are well Laurie. Good win for Wests Tigers today. All the best.”
Sironen gave an insight into how Nichols — who passed away almost 20 years ago — would have responded to the widely criticised blunder.
“There was a bit of a gaffe from Peter Beattie the other day. Someone’s come out with a new Twitter profile as Laurie,” he said.
“I can imagine Laurie saying to Peter Beattie, ‘ah it’s all right champion, don’t worry about that’.
“Then throwing a little flurry of punches at him. It wouldn’t have upset him in the least.”
HOW NICHOLS KEPT TIGERS TOGETHER
Roach, a 186-game veteran of Balmain from 1982-92, believed Nichols’ influence was so great he deterred players from changing allegiances.
“You have a look at all the blokes who played in my era, all of them had opportunities to go somewhere else and I’m sure that Laurie had a big say in why none of us ever went anywhere,” Roach told The Daily Telegraph.
“You see a bloke who’s so passionate you wouldn’t want to leave him there stranded. He was a bloody legend.
“I don’t think there was ever a number one supporter like him who supported his club, and I don’t think there’ll be another one. He was the greatest supporter of all time.”
Be it training, the season opener, or on grand final day, Nichols was always on deck with the same enthusiasm to rally his troops.
Reflecting on his life, Roach struggled to find the appropriate words to do Nichols justice.
“He was just a loyal, unbelievable person to tell you the truth,” Roach said.
“You hear a lot of people say they’d do anything for you, but he actually would.
“What he taught a lot of us blokes were principles. He had great principles. He was an easy bloke to keep around, all you had to do was give him a spare singlet.”
Elias, a 234-game Balmain icon, was another of Nichols’ closest friends.
The former hooker credited Nichols for one his greatest memories in the game following the side’s 1989 major semi-final victory over South Sydney.
“I can clearly remember jumping on his back when we won the game to get into the grand final,” Elias told The Daily Telegraph.
“He was in tears, he was in tears coming up that tunnel at the SFS.
“I jumped on his back and rode him and I wouldn’t get off for the next 20 minutes and he wouldn’t let me down. He thought it was Christmas.
“We just enjoyed that moment. It was a very very special moment.
“Tigers come and go but Laurie was always there. Balmain were lucky to have Laurie Nichols, not the other way around.”
THE LEICHHARDT OVAL LEGACY
Nichols died on February 2, 2000, just days out from the Wests Tigers’ first ever NRL game.
He was attending a fundraiser as a guest speaker for an amputee looking to further her career overseas, when his body gave up on him at age 79.
A vocal opponent of the merger between Balmain and Wests, Nichols eventually came around prior to his passing.
“I’m with the Balmain players all the way. I love the blokes — Balmain are my life,” Nichols told The Daily Telegraph in 1999.
“You can’t be a baby and cry. I can’t take it out on the players.
“I won’t yet commit myself in case something happens in the meantime that isn’t fair to Balmain. I want everything to be equal.
“I like the Wests blokes and you couldn’t get a nicer guy than Tommy Raudonikis. But I have a problem with Balmain losing its identity.
“They (Balmain officials) asked me to change my view (prior to the vote), but if I did that I wouldn’t have been able to sleep.
“I didn’t like what happened, but a man has to be there for the boys. It’s not their fault, or Junior’s (Wayne Pearce) either. A man’s got to forgive and forget.”
A comprehensive 259-99 vote validated the merger, with the Wests Tigers to form in 2000.
The day before his death, Nichols made his peace with the playing group.
He walked on to Leichhardt Oval at Wests Tigers’ final training session before the season opener, Wayne Pearce at the helm, and poured his heart out to the players.
“First thing is, I’m wearing this Tigers shirt, but we’re Wests Tigers now, OK?” Nichols told the Sun Herald at the time.
“The thing we’ve got to get into our head is that we’re a new club. We’ve got to support Wests Tigers, not just Balmain or Wests.
“I can’t wear this anymore,” he tugged his Balmain singlet.
“Because, fair enough, our name has changed. I love everybody, and you blokes to me, are as Balmain were to me. There’s no Balmain, we’re just one club.”
While Nichols begrudgingly accepted the inevitable fate, Elias knows the impact it would have had on his great mate.
“He’d turn in his bloody grave with a lot of things that have happened to our great club,” Elias said.
“If there’s ever a time in life where death is the resemblance of a changing of arms that was certainly it.”
A FITTING FAREWELL
Nichols was farewelled by thousands at Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic Church on the Central Coast on the 11th of February 2000.
“The funeral summarised him for the great man that he was,” Elias said.
“When you have a look at that funeral there were people from all walks of life.
“The businessmen, the politicians, the rugby league community, the working-class man, the white-collar man, the youth and the elderly. He covered it all.
“It was at absolute capacity, it was extraordinary.”
The current Wests Tigers first grade squad formed a guard of honour as he left the church.
It was led by coach Wayne Pearce and consisted of high-profile stars such as John Hopoate, Terry Hill and Matt Seers, while rugby league royalty including Reg Gasnier, Graeme Langlands, Mick Cronin, Ray Price, Peter Sterling, Peter Wynn, George Piggins and Jack Gibson were in attendance.
During the procession, locals poured out of homes and pubs to say goodbye to Laurie.
“The procession drove past one of the pubs up there. Every man in the pub put their beer down and came outside and formed a guard of honour,” Roach said.
“It was a true sign of respect. He’s an icon of the sport without even playing.”
In concluding his eulogy, Alan Jones perfectly summed up what Laurie Nichols meant to the Tigers: “Laurie Nichols has passed on. Somehow the grass at Leichhardt Oval will be a lot less green today. Even the stands themselves, I’m sure, will bow their wooden heads in reverential respect”.
In honour of Balmain’s number one supporter, every player in the competition wore a black armband in the opening round of the competition.
All seven games that weekend featured a minute’s silence in memory of Nichols.
All this for a man who held no official role in the game.
Wayne Pearce, who had spent the past 20 years alongside Nichols, knew better than anyone how important he was to the club.
“He was very much a part of our family and it won’t be the same to go into the dressing room,” Pearce told The Daily Telegraph at the time.
Elias knew exactly how lucky he was to have been a part of Nichols’ life.
“The Laurie Nichols’ of the world don’t come along often,” he said.
“In fact, they don’t even come once in a lifetime. I’m yet to meet anyone like a Laurie Nichols in any sport.”
Laurie Nichols truly was one of a kind.
His passion and antics secured his place in the game’s history.
But in the current era of the sport that’s often dominated by controversy and criticism, perhaps the strongest message from his legacy is the most obvious. He simply loved rugby league.
Originally published as Touching tale of rugby league’s greatest ever fan Laurie Nichols