Rabbitohs v Roosters a fitting farewell for the SFS

After 30 years the Sydney Football Stadium is being torn down. You couldn’t find a more fitting farewell: Rabbitohs v the Roosters.

Adam Reynolds in action at Allianz Stadium in Sydney

Adam Reynolds was three apples high and yet to cover his flesh in neck-to-achilles tattoos when he put down his tattered old brown leather football, walked out of his cramped housing commission joint on Morehead Street and joined the 80,000-strong march from Redfern to Sydney Town Hall to support the South Sydney Rabbitohs in their fight against the executioner.

He then returned to the heartland, wondering why so many adults who normally shunned displays of sentimentality or weakness had been weeping along inner-city streets. He was 10.

The energetic young bloke had to wait another two years for the Rabbitohs to play again. When they came back from the dead for the 2002 season in the biggest miracle since Luke 24:2 and/or Braith Anasta’s field goal against Wests Tigers in 2010, the fixture was an emotion-charged Charity Shield match against St George Illawarra. The venue was the Sydney Football Stadium.

The 12-year-old Reynolds was a cheeky young bugger on the way to becoming a cheeky adult, wearing the same colours that will be on his back when he’s front and centre for the stadium’s Last Supper tonight. On a week when you could write a list of all the lists published about the history of Moore Park’s empire of dirt/renovators’ delight, the Rabbitohs halfback is a decent little tale. A born-and-bred kid who’s grown up to be the Souths halfback on the night a meaningful dwelling is farewelled by neighbouring Sydney rivals and 40,000 spectators … in a do-or-die match … it’s good stuff.

“Big night,” Reynolds says. “I’ve got a lot of memories there. It’s a special place.”

GRAPHIC: Rugby league at the SFS

But officially, it’s Roosters territory these days. Coach Trent Robinson’s office is a knockdown wedge from the venue, and he says he’s tapped into the history of the ground as a motivational tool before tonight’s NRL preliminary final against the Rabbitohs.

“It’s an end of an era at Allianz,” Robinson says. “We’re looking forward to representing our home well. Favourite memory? I was lucky enough to play at the Roosters as a kid. I remember Princess Di’s (death) getting announced over Allianz Stadium in 1997 in the middle of a reserve-grade game.

“I’ve never seen a stadium in that much shock. Anzac Days, ­finals games. And we’ve had moments with family and friends on this ground … we’ve not only played in this stadium, we have loved this stadium. We’ve touched on this being our home and representing it well and wanting to send it out in the right way.

“In the pre-season we slept on the ground for a night. We wanted to experience it more. It was sleeping bags out on the stadium. Movie night. A bit of a history of the Roosters on the ground.”

It bucketed down on the SFS’s opening night in 1988 and despite assurances the $68 million project would keep 75 per cent of the spectators dry, all got drenched. (As did the Roosters players when it hosed down on the night of their pre-season camp).

The moments that have mattered are too numerous to mention, but let’s add our own list to the list of lists. Socceroos captain Charlie Yankos’s monster goal to sink Argentina, the reigning world champions, in 1988. Wallaby David Campese’s ill-fated pass to blow the series against the British and Irish Lions in 1989. George Gregan’s tackle to win the Bledisloe Cup in 1994. Terry Lamb snotting Ellery Hanley before Canterbury won the 1988 grand final in Steve Mortimer’s last game. The 1989 win by Canberra thanks to Chicka Ferguson and Steve Jackson, when the crossbar denied Benny Elias’s field goal.

The 1997 grand final win by Newcastle thanks to Andrew Johns and Darren Albert. Mark Geyer and Wally Lewis getting it on in State of Origin in 1991. Mark Coyne’s all-time great Origin try in 1994. Anthony Mundine and Danny Green putting up the dukes in 2006. Last year’s marathon A-League grand final between Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory.

For the Rabbitohs and Roosters to be the clubs to close the gates, for these two local clubs to have the honour, you could swear there’s something deep and meaningful going on.

“I’ve thought about it a fair bit, to tell you the truth,” Roosters captain Boyd Cordner says. “I do care about this place. It is my home. The Roosters are my home. I debuted on this ground and I’m going to play the last game here. I’ve had a lot of great memories here. It definitely holds a special place in my heart.”

Maybe all these lists need an asterisk. Maybe there’s one more cliffhanger for the road. A grandstand finish that burns the joint to the ground.

There is enough pre-match feeling and big-match importance to make a mark. “This stadium is sentimental, for sure,” says former Roosters fullback Anthony Minichiello, who holds the record for most games and most tries at Allianz Stadium.

The site began as the Sydney Sports Ground in 1903. Six thousand seats, plus room for 20,000 people to stand on the hill. A publication called The Newsletter reported at the time: “Some two years ago, the ground was a fetid refuse tip that grated on one’s ­olfactory nerves if you approached within a mile of it.”

It became the Sydney Football Stadium in 1988 before Allianz paid for naming rights. Now there’s about to be more park around Moore Park; everything will be knocked to the ground by the end of the year in a $729 million operation … apart from one tree and a few other bits and pieces. The giant Moreton Bay fig next to Allianz Stadium on Moore Park Road will stay.

The sculptures and plaques to the likes of Reg Gasnier, Betty Cuthbert and Dally Messenger will be exhibited elsewhere, rather than placed in storage.

Reynolds remembers being at Souths’ Charity Shield return in 2002. He can’t recall if he was at the SFS for the season-opening match against the Roosters a couple of weeks later. That was the night Russell Crowe and Albert Clift rang the bell to signal the return of the people’s club. Which bell? THE bell. The bell from Souths’ first game against North Sydney at Birchgrove Oval in 1908.

Roosters halfback Cooper Cronk reeks of the Melbourne Storm but his opposite number is Souths through and through. “I’m just trying to do my bit,” Reynolds says. “Everyone was giving the Roosters the trophy at the start of the year. They’re the star-studded side. They’re the favourites. We’re the underdogs. It’s going to be a big night. You wouldn’t want to be playing it anywhere else.”