Story 94 - Playing Football in a
War Zone
By Ian Granland
Introduction
During 1970, one of my two years in National Service, I was posted
to 104 Signal Squadron in South Vietnam. I was 21. Before call-up I
had resided in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney and had played Aussie
Rules Football and as young as I was, had been a senior club
administrator of the game at 17, as club secretary, – they had
no-one else!!
Photo: Air view of Nui Dat. Photo
sourced from AWM EKT/71/0648/VN
When I arrived in Nui Dat, the Australian Army’s main base in Vietnam, organised sport was almost non-existent, apart from the occasional dart tournament at the boozer, (the unit bar where we consumed as much as we could) in the evenings.
Despite the army population of 5,000 plus Australians at the base with a perimeter area of 12km, there was no time for sport at the ‘Dat’; as you might imagine, it was just work, work, work in the daylight hours, (for the most part), regardless of what unit you might have been attached to.
Having said that, there was a basketball court and table tennis facilities at the Pearson Centre, a building manned for the most part by the Salvation Army for short relief of soldiers at the base. This was also the location where we collected and returned the movies which would be shown at the unit each night.
Preparation
During one period in my time there, I was at Vung Tau, a beach-side area where another Australian base was housed. A group from our sister signal unit there, 110 Signal Squadron, was playing a game of Australian football on the grass parade ground of what I think was an indigenous police academy somewhere around the Vung Tau area. It got me wondering if we could organise a game at Nui Dat.
First though, I had to get permission for this activity from our commanding officer, which he subsequently approved. “Yes, go ahead but don’t make a habit of it” he said, then followed up with “but I don’t where you can play, where you can get a football or jumpers from.” Fair point I thought, but it’s worth a go.
There weren’t too many areas of a suitable size in our task force area on which we could play. In fact, I didn’t know of any, however after a bit of scrutiny, I learned there was possibly one within the Australian base.
Subsequent inquiries revealed that this ground was around the area of 1 Australian Reinforcement Unit.
A friend from our troop,
Geoff Morris and I did a recce and located the area. Yes, the area
was big enough for Australian Football and it even had posts erected
(don’t know where they came from) but the grass across the oval
ranged from 20cm to 1m in height. So, if I could organise a game, it
meant that it would have to be cut.
In the meantime, I arranged a
match against 106 Field Workshops (a mechanical unit that repaired
various army vehicles from Land Rovers to tanks) for the coming late
Saturday afternoon. We needed an opposition who could get of duty
reasonably easily and they were one.
Our unit had shift workers,
radio maintenance diggers and of course, clerks, cooks etc. So
getting our group together wasn’t too difficult either. Of course,
we needed a coach – and that would not be me.
Photo: The old Massey Feruson Tractor at
106 Field Workshops for repairs.
Insert: 105 Field Battery at work with a 105 Howitzer
Both photos sourced from AWM BEL/69/0827/VN and COM/69/0522/VN
(Insert).
Next job was to locate a slasher. Word of mouth told us that 105 Field Battery (field artillery unit) had an old Massey Ferguson tractor with which they used to tow their guns, plus, a slasher.
We asked and were given permission to use it. So, we drove the vehicle from that unit over to the field and Geoff began driving it round and round, and round. He got the grass down reasonably short but certainly not bowling green stuff. We had to mow it again on the day before the game because with the heat, we realised the grass would grow significantly enough to require another cut.
This was 1970, pre-centre square and 50m arcs so with a hand mower we mowed in the goal squares, centre circle and boundary. Then we were ready to go.
I didn’t know where or who we could get to officiate, so I umpired the game. I wasn’t a qualified umpire but had umpired games in which the NSW police played mid-week matches in Sydney during the previous few years.
The Game
The players turned up in their Land Rovers and trucks, even an armoured personnel carrier. For the life of me I can’t remember what jumpers they wore, if any, surely it wasn’t “skins v shirts”? But there were ample players of all ages, size and shape, all primed for a game. And, there were some bloody good footballers amongst them too. I really wish I had got a photograph.
Our unit won the game – I think, well, they did have the umpire on their side – just kidding. In my umpiring, I copped a bit of abuse from the opposition and maybe a bit from my side as well, to which I applied the statutory 15 yard penalty, but that was all par for the course. It was in the days of the one central umpire.
The out of bounds on the full rule had only recently been introduced and of course I applied it. Some of the older heads were not too happy but recognized that it had become a law of the game.
There was no function, after the match or anything like that, no speeches or best player awards; there was three cheers from either side for the opposition then just back to the units. But, it was a good relief, something a bit different because obviously, most who played etc. loved the game.
Conclusion
We could listen to the VFL games on Radio Australia of a Saturday Afternoon. I remember that year, it was when South Melbourne played off in the first semi-final before 104,000 at the MCG against St Kilda and received a fair hiding 22-11 (143) to 13-12 (90).
It was the first final South had featured in for years. I hid in my tent and listened, hoping for a South win.