Roy Masters
Garry Leo, one of the few remaining members of Balmain’s famous 1969 premiership team, has passed away, aged 81.
Leo was an enigmatic character, a product of Fort Street Boys High School where he scored an A in both French and Latin in the Leaving Certificate, yet packed down against the might of the Rabbitohs front row. This was a time where missing teeth were more respected than university degrees. But a prop forward who could fight for the loose head, yet quote Descartes and Cicero was grudgingly admired. He often boasted, “I am the only front rower who played for NSW who had two A’s for French and Latin.”
He bridged the gap between the somewhat traditional anti-intellectual ethos of the game and the rise of the educated whose love for rugby league was equally passionate. It was no surprise, therefore, that Leo was always chosen by his peers to take the lead at their annual reunions. Remaining members of the 1969 team which defeated South Sydney are winger George Ruebner, centres Terry Parker and Allan Fitzgibbon (father of Cronulla coach, Craig), hooker Peter Boulton, fellow prop Barry McTaggart, and reserve Syd Williams, who scored the only try of the match.
The annual weekends when the old Tigers gathered are funded by a bequest from a long-term Tigers director, Austin Hoyle. Former Federal Sports Minister, John Brown, is trustee and executor of the trust and said, “Austin left $15,000 a year to pay for their weekends and Garry always ran the show and looked after his old teammates.”
The 1969 Grand Final is one of the code’s legendary deciders, the deeds of the underdog team chronicled in “The Great Grand Final Heist,” a book by the late Ian Heads. It is a grand final which still evokes emotional debate. Whenever I mentioned Leo’s rare feat of 2 A’s in a Sydney Morning Herald story, it drew a response from Brian James, who attended a private school and pointed out he won the prize for Latin. James was the Souths winger who believed he scored a try in the 11-2 loss, yet it was disallowed following a tackle by Ruebner as James attempted to force the ball. It also raises the issue of the corner post then being part of the field of play, unlike today when the acrobatic wingers are awarded tries, despite knocking out the corner post. Sadly, James also passed a few years ago, following a tractor incident on his farm.
Leo was a Tigers club captain before retiring in 1974, having played 173 first grade games in what was then a club record of 236 grade games. The front row head clashes and tackle collisions did not impact a formidable intelligence which pored over legal documents, only weeks before his death. Leo was a vocal opponent of the Wests-Balmain merger, convinced it was a shotgun marriage forced upon both clubs by the economic rationalists at the conclusion of the Super League war. He believed the vote by both clubs to merge was based on emotion, rather than the specifics of the legal document that outlined the joint venture. Despite there being a number of iterations of the merger agreement since, Leo sought legal evidence to justify his conviction the current joint venture is at odds with the intent of the original document.
“A lot of us felt very sad when Balmain amalgamated with Western Suburbs to become Wests Tigers,” he is quoted as telling Ian Heads. “Balmain had a special individual spirit that went back to our youth…it was part of who we were.”
Leo, who settled in Newcastle, never properly recovered from the death of his wife, Carol. He then suffered prostate cancer and underwent chemotherapy which affected his kidneys. Compounding his ill health, he broke a leg a year ago. He was visiting friends in Canberra when he was hospitalized and died at 9.50pm Thursday. Peter Corcoran, a long-term friend and the pioneer of rugby league’s coaching academy, was called to the hospital by Leo’s daughter, Justine. As he lay in Canberra hospital, maybe Leo was pondering the theory of 17th Century French philosopher, Rene Descartes, who believed the mind and body were separate. Corcoran admits to being puzzled by Leo’s last words to him: “I can’t believe this is happening to me.”
