Tony Dwyer depicted 6th from the left and Wayne Medlyn 8th in the freshly painted Eugowra Rugby League Football Club “Team of the Century” mural
The newly refurbished Eugowra Rugby League Football Club Team of the Century mural, which commemorates 100 years of Rugby League in Eugowra, features none other than Parkes own Spacemen President, Tony Dwyer.
Tony has a long association with rugby league across both the towns of Parkes and Eugowra. He started playing football for the Parkes under 12s in 1972 when they won the competition. However, he then did not return to the game until his first year in under 18s, saying: I stayed two years in 18s, then played for Parkes until 1983 when we won the competition under Ted Goodwin.
Despite playing the entire year for Parkes in 1983 at half-back, Tony was dropped for the semi-final and didnt get back on the field in the grand final, prompting the need for a change of scenery.
I went out to Eugowra, Jock Colley was the coach at the time, and he told me to come out for a run, so I had a run with him for a season and then Jock retired and I coached for the next two years.
Tonys first year in Eugowra was 1984, and he stayed with the team for three years until 1986. We got beat in the grand final in 1984, we won the competition in 1985 and were beat again in 1986, said Tony.
Following the 1986 competition, Tony took a year off football to fix an injured knee, before heading back onto the field with Parkes in 1988. We won the competition that year under Neil Moy, then I gave away playing football and started refereeing, said Tony.
Tony started off refereeing junior league, then stepped up to referee senior league in 1991, resulting in the next 10 years spent in Group 11.
Tony has also coached junior league in Parkes and has been President of The Parkes Rugby League Football Club, for the past four years, declaring that he is happily tied up with the club forever.
Tony never imagined he would one day be depicted larger than life on a mural to celebrate the 100 year anniversary of the Eugowra Rugby League Football Club.
Tony explains: That was out of the blue. They rang up one day and said – have you got a picture of yourself? They explained they were doing a mural of all the grand final coaches who had won the competition.
It worked out well, because my good mate Wayne Medlyn came out playing with me in 1985 and he stayed on when I got my knee fixed. He ended up coaching in 1988 and also won the competition.
Tony has fond memories of his time playing football for Eugowra. Eugowra is a great place, and the people, they are a great community, they always welcome you back. Each year there is an event and we all travel back to catch up, I look forward to it every year, concluded Tony.