Duntroon has traditionally entered teams in rugby, AFL and soccer in canberra. In fact, Duntroon won the inaugural John I Dent Cup in the premier rugby division in Canberra in 1938.
The military blamed the decision on injuries to cadets, penalties imposed for forfeits caused by training commitments and the introduction of the Australian Defence Force Academy.
Duntroon teams struggled to field teams last year on a week-to-week basis and were forced to forfeit a number of games.
The CT has an article here
RMC only returned to rugby in the ACT in 1998 playing as 3rd Grade for Easts. They then went alone a few years later, biting off more than they could chew. Due to training commitments, the team was propped up by staff on a week to week basis.
They decided late last year to change their sporting policy & will only participate in internal sports. They will continue play the annual Hatchett trophy & the HAC weekend.
Ah yes, playing rugby v RMC….one thing I always admired was the way the cordies would dive on the loose ball, when ordered by a senior officer (who usually played fullback)…made you almost feel bad about rucking the crap out of them!
It’s about time Defence cadets got serious. Stuffing around with games is fine for kids, but grown-ups have work to do. Now, if only they’ll close down their brass bands and scrap silly hats and parade ground nonsense as well as their “Hurry up and wait!” mentality they might demonstrate that they were really taking their role seriously.
ADFA weren’t much better at this kind of thing, if their volleyball teams were anything to go by…
“The introduction of the Australian Defence Force Academy”? ADFA opened in 1986, 22 years ago. Talk about desperate for excuses!
The Hatchet would have been an appropriate award for their hockey teams. They didn’t win many games though, from memory. They were known for appearing to practice full advance tactics, fixing bayonets and charging en masse.
And the ADFA indoor hockey teams tended to be made up of mainly staff at ADFA, rather than cadets, as apparently the academy didn’t like them playing sport on midweek evenings.
Ah the Hatchet. They were good games.
there used to be an RMC or duntroon team in my volleyball team’s roster, they never blo*dy showed up for the scheduled times because they were off somewhere playing war games then expected them to be re-played another night at THEIR convenience – f o ! we were all glad they left after one season.
I once headbutted a cordie on the elbow during a match.
I’m not sure what the result was because I don’t remember the rest of the match, or the day for that matter…
Yes, I enjoyed many a game of rugby against RMC myself….they were always a very fit team, as you’d expect.
Sad really. I enjoyed more than a few games of union against the cadets – and the Hatchet Trophy was always a good match on the Queens Birthday long weekend.
I propse Defence follow the standing advice of RiotACT:
Harden the [d]uck up, bitches.
[Edited by a Riot OverLord but you get the idea;) ]
soft
weak