1981...
I was there.
The miracle of Mary.
The game was won when in the last play of the game, the Joeys #10 Peter Tonkin slotted a FIELD GOAL as the siren sounded to win the game and premiership. Colin Scotts was in that TSC team and refused to shake the hands of the Joeys boys.
Mary? Well the story goes that Br Michael Naughton was sitting in the hack row of the southern end of the stand with a number of a Joeys Brothers. During the last past of this game they pulled out the rosary beads and started to mediate on Joeys winning. Not soon after .... welt lets go to the match report ...
With twelve minutes to go the cry of "Never give up!" became more intense. Hunt crossed the try line under the posts only to be recalled. The
minutes were ticking away.
St. Joseph's were now getting a glut of possession as the ball moved across the field through the backs and up the field through the forwards. A line out formed fifteen metres from the Scots line. The ball was thrown to Farrell who set up a maul. Shields fed the ball to Tonkin on the short side who scored. A good kick for conversion by Ryan just failed. 8-9, with only five minutes to play.
Scots kicked the ball deep into St. Joseph's territory. Good anticipation by McEwen won the ball from a maul. Fallon passed to Tonkin who in a brilliant run took play to Scots' quarter line. A minute left to play, and the cheer continued, "Never give up!" A scrum was won by St. Joseph's; Fallon passed to Tonkin. Wisely deciding that he must attempt a field goal rather than a try, he steadied himself, thirty metres out and twelve metres from touch, took aim and kicked. The field goal was never in doubt as the ball sailed between the posts with the full-time siren sounding.
The excitement of the crowd when they realised that St. Joseph's had won 11-9 in the last seconds of the match was something rarely if ever seen on the ground before.
So how does Mary figure into this?
Brother Michael told some students that during the moments of Tonkin going the blind and taking the ball up to the Scots 22, he spied a difference on the tower of the College. He claimed that the statue of
Our Lady was now facing the Park . Normally Our Lady faces east with her hands spread out as a sign of her protection. Br Michael pointed this out to the others (who did confirm) but they were soon engrossed in the field goal that they did not look back immediately. It was only some time after the game did they notice Mary had returned to her position.
Brother Michael and other spoke to Father Jim Hargreaves (College Priest) who then passed this up the line to the Cardinal. It was investigated and decided upon that the statue of Our Lady did not physically move but her vision of her facing was a sign of holy intercession. Scots never had a chance (You gotta love Catholics)
If anyone is fascinated by this I would recommend,
"The Vatican Prophecies: Investigating Supernatural Signs, Apparitions, and Miracles in the Modern Age" Damn good book. In fact, that a book on so secretive and complex a topic is so deeply researched, beautifully written, and artfully told is something of a small miracle itself.