Phil Pike

We had a team that went to all the country areas. We went to Dubbo and we went to Wagga Wagga. I was the team manager of that tour. Got them their hotel, told’ em when training was on. We went to Newcastle. We played in Maitland. We
played there. And the people came out to see us. And we still knew we was alive. Mate. I remember a particular bloke who followed Souths, he turned around and he, dead-set, he, dead-set, did not.... would not eat for about three or four days after we lost that court case. And he was just so emotionally
wrecked. He never went to work. He never went to work and he turned around an’ the poor bloke... he was shattered.
He was absolutely shattered. Football was his life. He watched Souths in Newcastle. He watched them in Canberra. An’ his wife turned around and he stood there in the kitchen and I remember
I said to him very clearly. I said, ‘Mate, look look look
look, the game of Rugby League is not worth doin’ your marriage over’. He’s got three kids. She turned around and said,
‘Look, wake up to yourself’. She says, ‘This is just a football team’. He shouts, ‘A football team? You stupid woman!’. And they had this massive argument in the kitchen.