Veteran urges league committee to respect club determined to honour tradition on Anzac Day

A military veteran who lost his leg and a great friend in a 2009 explosion in Afghanistan has thrown his support behind a league club that refuses to play on Anzac Day. Find out why Paul Warren is backing the country Queensland club here.

Paul Warren lost his leg when an IED that killed his friend Private Benjamin Ranaudo detonated near him in Afghanistan.

Reflecting on the IED blast that took his right leg and killed his close friend Private Benjamin Ranaudo, Paul Warren is worried parts of Australia are losing sight of time-honoured traditions.

Warren’s comments come as his beloved Oakey Bears rugby league club stands firm in an argument with Pittsworth Danes and Toowoomba Rugby League over a proposed Anzac Day match.

In a statement released online late last week, Oakey claimed its strong ties to the nearby Oakey Army Aviation Training Centre meant it would be disrespectful for them to leave the town on the national day of remembrance.

“To me (Anzac Day) is about everything that this kind of story is not,” Warren, who played senior rugby league for the Bears the same year he joined the military, said.

“This is being a little divisive, but for me it is about remembering my mates.

“In 2009 Afghanistan, I was an infantry soldier. We went in to find a Taliban bombmaker and “I lost a mate in the blast that took my right leg off, and subsequently over the next few years, sitting at home watching the news and unfortunately other mates’ names come up and they’re not coming home either.

“Anzac Day is a time to honour them. They ‘gave their tomorrow for our today’ is a good phrase that I sort of do like that come out of that.

“Ben Ranaudo was killed in our blast at 22 years old. It is significant for me to pause and reflect like it will be for a lot of other people.

“The significance of Anzac Day I probably feel for about two weeks before and a week or so after.”

Member for Herbert Phillip Thompson presented Army Veteran and Veterans' Project Manager at Rheinmetall Defence Australia Paul Warren with the Prime Minister’s Veteran’s Employer of the Year Award in 2020. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Private Paul Warren had his leg blown off in Afghanistan in the same incident in which Pte Ben Ranaudo died in 2009. The 33-year-old was lucky not to lose more and credits his survival to the quick response of his comrades.

Warren accepts and respects how the concepts of mateship, trust and respect are important to team sports and military units.

He also shares an admiration for how professional sporting bodies pay tribute to the Anzacs and other military personnel.

However, like Oakey, he believes a lack of respect and short-sightedness is the crux of the problem in this argument.

“I think there are a couple of parts to this,” Warren said.

“I live in Brisbane now, but still keep in touch with people at the club. It’s the only club I ever played first grade for, the same year I joined the military in 2007, and it’s a great club.

“The significance of the day is not being given the respect it deserves.

“As a country we’re starting to lose a lot of our proud traditions, and this is one of them that has great significance.

“The second part of this is not being respectful of a small community that is a large piece of Australia’s military capability.

“Oakey is not a large town, but it is a significant piece of our aviation capability.

“I feel they’re putting this game ahead of something that should be a significant piece for us all as Australians to be fair.

“It might be okay for another club without a large aviation base … they’re not a significant piece of Australia’s military capability that Anzac Day means a whole lot to.

“That’s the difference, and to me that is really shortsighted from the TRL to put footy above that, and it’s not giving Oakey the respect it deserves as a tight-knit community.”