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In a classic case of being in the right
place at the right time, I was lucky enough to be selected in the
Northern Territory Under 21 Men's Hockey Team (while I was working
in Darwin) which played in the 1977 National Championships in
Hobart. We left Darwin basking in 33 degree temperatures and
arrived in Hobart at 4 degrees. The Hobart Mercury ran a story
showing us shivering as we got off the plane! This was the
first ever representative hockey team from the Northern Territory to
play in a National Championship of any kind and it showed on the
scoreboard! We got beaten in every game which wasn't a problem
for me and my fellow fullbacks and our two goalkeepers because we
had the time of our lives defending against the best Under 21
players in Australia, many of whom were either in the Australian
Men's Hockey Team at the time, or were a couple of years later.
I particularly remember never laying a glove on Peter Hazelhurst who
played as an inside forward for the Australian Men's side for about
10 years afterwards. Over the six or seven games we played we
were 56 goals against and no goals for; although we did get a
penalty stroke against the ACT where our captain managed to hit the
goalkeeper in the middle of the chest.
Darwin, 1977
Greg Williams with the Northern Territory Under 21 Men's Hockey Team
(2nd from right at the back)
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