Inarrabri

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June 25th - July 8th iNarrabri Magazine 09
and go home and they won't come back for three weeks. The spirit
isn't in them back like it was in those days.
Of course your association with the ‘Blues’ has been a long one.
How far back does it go?
I think officially, I started with the Blues in 1971 on the committee,
helping them with whatever I could do. Back before then my father
was a timekeeper for probably ten, fifteen years. I can remember
when I was only eight-ten years old, my mother used to wash all the
footy jumpers, so we've always been involved in Narrabri Rugby
League.
The club recently celebrated a highlight with the reunion of play-
ers involved in the 1990 Grand Final win over West Tamworth.
What great memories do you hold?
I was president up til then but had to go back to Singleton to a Hotel
that I had leased out in Singleton, because the bloke went bankrupt,
so I was back and forth all season. The game was held here at Collins
Park same as the '76 Grand Final and we beat Wests both times... I
can't remember the score for either game... might have something to
do with old age or the post game celebrations.
There seems to be a steady decline of clubs involved in ‘bush’
football. What do you attribute this to?
I think the expenses that go with having a club. They seem to be
three times what they were the last time I was there. Another thing is
that the kids these days have got more things to do at home, playing
computers and not interested in it. But you know, if you win a few
games you get more people through the gate, but it is a lot more to
run a club than when it was back then. And you rely heavily on your
sponsors really. Without them we would have nothing.
You have also gone into a new business venture taking over the
Wilga Hotel. How will it be on the other side of the bar?
Well I am half blind, I haven't been allowed to drive for the past five
years, so they won't let me at the till! I just wander around and pick
up glasses and as Robin says "You do the best you can with your big
mouth!"... She calls it bullshit but everyone else calls it PR!
Once again this type of work is not foreign to you.
No, not foreign... We've been in hotels since '85, in and out of hotels...
I've had four in my time and Keith has had four as well.
I started off at Gurlarganbone and started up a footy team playing
in the second division comp. They didn't have footy there. So I got a
coach, we got going... my son Michael was over there with us, he was
only sixteen-seventeen but I wouldn't let him play with the reserve
grade side, he went over and played for Gilgandra. And he ended
up captaining Western Division in the Under 18s, coached by Steve
Mortimer...
Then we had the Club House and the Caledonian in Singleton... and
then we bought the Imperial at Wee Waa... and now The Wilga.
While some might think that being in a pub all week and the
weekend spent at the footy might be ideal this isn’t necessary the
case is it?
Yeh well it keeps you going doesn't it. But the only reason I came in
was because Keith lost his wife a few months back and he had noth-
ing to do and he said that he wanted to have a go at the pub, and
we'd always wanted to have a go at the pub... I sat back and said I
wasn't interested and then Robyn asked "Aren't you going with him?
You should go over and see what you can work out... but I'm only the
mouthpiece... they do all the paperwork because I can't see.
So how does Barry Ford think he’ll relax in the future?
Once it gets going here at the hotel we will put some more staff on.
At the moment it's a bit tight. But another thing is that I'm looking for
someone to take over as president of the footy club next year so that
is what I have to find! I have a good commitee but and even have
a few young footballers on the committee, I just have to find some
young blood to get up on this chair!