Hail the Pineapple cutters!
Way back in Feb 1953, The Woods were being hailed for our "progressive attitude". The Club had just introduced the ground breaking innovation of team managers - something we all take as given these days.
The tasks of these brand new team managers was set out as;
After each match to supply the coach with a list of players available for the following round
To collect players' fees for the club treasurer.
To ensure all players are properly dressed — club stockings, dark blue strides, clean boots, and properly numbered (the club supplies the jerseys).
To ensure water buckets, towel and pineapple are available at half-time.
To assist the coach in getting the team on to the field punctually.
Might have to let Coach know that we're missing out on that extra 10% not having pineapple for the players!
(This snippet is from the National Archives service "Trove" https://trove.nla.gov.au/ - truly a national treasure. Trove has just added the old Daily Mirror to its archives and that's where this story comes from)
Here's a picture of our modern day pineapple cutters
from left: Wally Rosada, Paul Maguire, Rob Pappalardo and John Cropper
1953 was the year I first started trudging up the hill to Eastwood Oval. I remember picking up a discarded Rugby News (or whatever the programme was called in those days) and can still remember the heading on an article about Eastwood: "E stands for Elizabeth, Everest, and Eastwood".