Men of Marist get together

Press, 30 May 1981, Page 16

Men of Marist get together

Anyone who enjoys a lively discussion on the relative merits of different senior Christchurch rugby sides since the war should drop into the Marist clubrooms in Mandeville Street next week-end.

The club is holding a reunion for its senior players from the time the club was re-established as Marist in 1945 through to the late 19605.

Also welcome will be those who played under the Athletic banner in the 1930 s and a special guest will be Harry Mullins, a survivor of the great Marist side of the early 19205,, a team which disbanded after a dispute with the Canterbury union.

Between 200 and 300 former senior players are expected at the reunion, which will take the form of a conversazione on Friday night, an extended social hour after the CanterburyScotland game on Saturday, and a church service and lunch on Sunday.

All five of Marist's All Blacks since 1945 will be on hand. Tom Lynch, undoubtedly the most talented footballer the club has had, will be coming from Gore, Kevin

Stuart from Hastings, and the other three, Kevin Meates, Jake Burns and Vance Stewart, all live in Christchurch.

Other notable players coming from out of town are Ces Walklin (Greymouth), who captained the senior team when it won the senior championship in its first year back in 1945, the indomitable George Lindstrom (from somewhere in the wilds of Marlborough) and Pat Callanan (Timaru), who played for a New Zealand XV in 1945.

The organisers are also hopeful that the Rev. G: W. Harrison will be well enough to attend. Father Harrison was the club’s chaplain for many years and he was also a leading Canterbury referee under the name of Mr W. J. Brown.

. Since 1945, Marist has won the senior title three times and' they were in the three successive years from 1950. There will be little argument that the Marist side of this period was a cut above any other, although it would hardly be a Marist function if everyone was in total agreement from the outset.