RUGBY LEAGUE
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"Reveille 3am, breakfast 5am, landing at Gallipoli 7am".
A century ago, these were the words former Dapto rugby league player William Beach used to record the timeline of the Anzac diggers' arriving on Turkish shores.
Beach's story is part of a historical collection of the Dapto club being written by former caller and Big League editor Barry Ross.
A member of A-Company in the 4th Battalion which landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1915, Beach played rugby union for Dapto while his father William Snr was president of the club when it switched to rugby league in 1912.
The April 25 entry in his wartime diary, in the possession of his granddaughter, Jenny Clisdell reads: "Reveille 3am, Breakfast 5am, Landing at Gallipoli 7am."
"To know that there were people involved in the early days of the Dapto club that served in these battles that we are commemorating this weekend is spine-tingling really," Illawarra rugby league manager Chris Bannerman said.
"It's only fitting that we celebrate that and recognise some of those players, including some we might not know about, that were great players on the field but also did a fair bit in terms of wartime service."
The Illawarra Coal League clubs have been denied the chance to play on Anzac Day by the inclement weather, with all games postponed, Collegians will also honour one of their own with a special tribute.
Tom McDermott was a founding member of the Christian Brothers College club [which evolved into Collegians].
He earned Country Seconds selection in 1941 while playing in the Illawarra Army Reds XIII - made up of members from the 6th Machine Battalion captained by his brother Charlie. It would be his last season of football for a number of years after he enlisted in August 1942 at Dapto and served in New Guinea with the famous 7th Division who fought the Japanese at Kokoda and Milne Bay.
Late in 1943, his unit was involved in the famous battle of Shaggy Ridge which saw the initial Japanese retreat.
Tom again played with CBC after the war and in 1946 selection for Illawarra division before retiring and becoming team manager for Collegians when Wally O'Connell was captain-coach.
Bannerman said McDermott's story was a poignant reminder of the debt rugby league in the region owes to its former servicemen.
"When we look back in our history there have been a lot of people that were prominent footballers who had wartime service some of it quite astounding.
"[McDermott] was involved in the early days of the Collegians club which is significant in our history but gave great service up in PNG over a number of years and was involved in some fairly significant battles along the Kokoda Track.
"We might play lip service to some of this stuff but what some of these men have been through is quite amazing."