Young league player beats long odds

Press, 14 July 1987, Page 38

Young league player beats long odds

By

JOHN COFFEY

A gamble against odds estimated at 200,000 to one has become a winning hand for a young former Christchurch rugby league player, Jason Williams, who has achieved first grade status in Sydney.

Williams has been a Western Suburbs wing in the last two Sydney premiership rounds, sharing in draws with the much more highly rated South Sydney (4-4) and Cronulla-Sutherland (2828). His rise to prominence in the toughest of all rugby league arenas comes six years after leaving the Eastern Suburbs schoolboys ranks in Christchurch to seek his football fortune across the Tasman. Then 15 years of age, Williams took the difficult route of making his name in Sydney as a prelude to earning New Zealand honours. Williams’ potential was spotted by a Western Suburbs official, Keith Jacobs, who managed an under-15 side to visit Christchurch in 1981. After considerable discussion, the youngster’s parents, Barry and Colleen Williams, agreed their son could give sport priority over schooling. “I stated then his chances were 200,009 to one,” said Mr Jacobs, who arranged accommodation, employment and a place with the Enfield Federals junior club. But his judgment proved sound. Williams was chosen in representa-

tive teams in each of his five seasons with Enfield Federals before being promoted into the Western Suburbs under-23 squad last year. “My involvement in rugby league takes in 39 years, and I have never seen such application and dedication as Jason has given,” said Mr Jacobs. “He just lives for football. What drives him on is his lust for success and his lifelong desire to make the Kiwi side.” Williams was accorded rave reviews for his impressive first grade debut on a sodden Sydney Cricket Ground, hardly the conditions to suit a

tyro wing thrust into the match as a late replacement. “It was Williams who shone in the grim conditions,” reported “Rugby League Week,” which gave him the highest individual rating (8 out of 10) of the 26 participants. “The flanker proved to be a fleet-footed customer and made several spectacular runs through the mud,” it said. Under the headline, “Clubs Clamour for Kiwi Wonder Boy,” the “Daily Telegraph” reported that Williams — whose contract with Western Suburbs expires this season — had received offers from a number of other clubs seeking his services. Even after so long in Sydney, Williams retains a strong desire to represent his homeland and will insist on a release clause in his future contracts. Unlike most other New Zealanders with overseas clubs, Williams faces the predicament of being unknown to the New Zealand selectors because he has played no senior football in this country. That problem will be rectified if he maintains his present form.