The 2016 Harden Red Devils were pictured at Walker Park in Yass before they took on the Yass Rams in the Minor Semi Final for the ‘Plate’ component of the South Coast Monaro Competition. The Devils came from behind to clinch the match 26-24.
The Harden Red Devils will be holding their 40 year reunion celebrations at Robert’s Park this Saturday September 3.
The day will commence with an ‘Old’ boys match at 1:00pm before the main game at 2:00pm between the Red Devils and the Hilltops side. The Devils side is made up of the majority of the 2016 squad with some notable ring ins added to bolster the team. The Hilltops side is made up of players who predominantly live and or play rugby elsewhere but whose homes or families live in the district. Several players have foregone duties with their clubs to come to Harden for the Devil’s reunion.
There will be some quality players on show from both teams which will no doubt create a spectacle for spectators.
Everyone is welcome to come down and watch the matches and enjoy the evening with past and present players and supporters of the club. Entry is free. A bar and bbq will be running all day and into the evening. Entertainment will be provided for the night and a marqee will be constructed to help house the large number of people expected to attend.
Those attending the evening need only pay for their meal on the night and their beverages. There is no cover charge for the reunion. An auction will be held later in the night and the Club will also hold their 2016 presentations.
Organiser John O’Connor said “There has been a lot of enthusiasm for the reunion from not only local people but many former players who don’t live here anymore.” Make sure you get down and join in the fun at the Harden Red Devils 40 year Reunion.
Tony Pobjie Returns
Tony Pobjie with the former Govenor General of Australia, Quentin Bryce, during his time in Spain.
The Devils reunion will see many well known footballers and supporters attend the function on Saturday. One such person will be none other than well known Hawk and Devil, Tony Pobjie.
Tony is currently spending time with his brother-in-law and sister Paul and Trish O’Connor.
Tony comes from a very talented sporting family. His father was a station master at Bowning and the family moved there when he was in primary school. Tony went on to play for the Yass Magpies in the juniors and went through to first grade for the club. He was a part of the Canberra Raiders squad in 1982 before departing to play Rugby League in Chation in France.
He said “I was the first Raider to go to France to play, I came back and had two more seasons with Canberra before coming back to Harden.” Tony played for both the Harden Hawks and The Harden Red Devils. The Pobjie boys were no doubt in high demand. They were all very skilful. Tony said “Pete played for Binalong in their reunion match recently and tore his bicep muscle but he had a lot of fun playing with the side.”
Tony played with his brother Tim in the Centres whilst Peter was at five eight. The opposition must have been very confused. Tony said “It was often the non verbal communication that worked really well. We grew up playing together so it was easy to give one of the brothers a wink or a nod and we knew what we were going to do.” If any of the Pobjie boys made a break or needed a player to be somewhere, they were. Playing with siblings can make it easier.
When Tony’s brother Matt lost his leg in an accident the Harden Rugby Club held a fundraiser for him. Matt went out and played on his artificial leg. Tony played most of the positions in the back line at some stage in his career from Five Eight, Centres and Full Back. His career ended with the Hawks in 1986 when he “snapped” a cruciate ligament, however, he has fond memories of the town and the two clubs. He recalls the skill level of players like John Shea and the hard but fair style of Peter and Heinz Leitner.
In the rugby he mentioned Polly Thurkettle and Hugo Sachs as having big personalities around the club. “It was a lot of fun playing Union.” he said “It was always a fun atmosphere and the nights down at the Club house were great. Great music, partners and kids all attended. The kids went home at a certain time and there were many nights in to the wee hours of the morning.”
Tony is looking forward to seeing all the old faces and finding out what they have been up to since he last saw them. Tony works for the Department of Foreign Affairs and since finishing his days playing football has travelled the world in his role with DFAT. For the last 25 years he has been involved in looking after Australia’s interests and said he has been to or worked in over 50 embassies world wide.
His position is First Secretary and Consul and the role has seen him in some major war zones and conflicts. He said whilst working in Baghdad an alarm would often go off in the complex warning of a rocket attack. “You would hear the warning sound and then have about 3 seconds to get in a bunker to protect yourself if the rocket was to hit your building.” Security is was tight on his last job with 100 security specialists looking after 14 diplomats. Tony has worked on and led teams in Port Moresby, Thailand and Spain just to name a few as well as working on the MH&7 disaster in the Ukraine. He will head back to Canberra and will soon take a posting up in the Hague in the Netherlands for the next 3 years.
