9 August, 2016. 11:02
ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
TOM FRANKLIN ARRIVED AT SYDNEY’S MacAlister College borderline illiterate. But he was a whole head over six foot and cut lean at 105kg. He could run quicker up a hill than most people could fall down one. Even as a schoolboy, people would come from far and wide to watch him run lines and score tries.
He was also a tambourine virtuoso.
But that was last year and Tom has now found a home at his local university college, where he can continue to score tires and limp his way through a Bachelor of Business.
This year, MacAlister College has done what many have thought to be impossible – they’ve won their fourth successive rugby premiership, this time without the aid of gifted musicians.
“It’s a spectacular achievement that was accomplished through our world-class training facilities and dedicated coaching staff,” said Principal Dr Robert Gilles.
“We never expected to win a sporting competition with home-grown-full-fee-paying students. It’s simply exceeded our expectations. Our star clarinet player was injured in the preseason, we had to expel him so he could get the treatment he needed. His replacement, sadly, wasn’t as good at clarinet as we thought,”
Dr Gilles was quick to quell any suggestion that the school’s sporting program takes preference over any other, saying that high-achievers and scholarship holders are found throughout the institution.
“Fortunately, we have some great geographers in our rowing program. We should win that provided other schools don’t import any rowers. Our drama program is doing Grease with St Wanbala’s School For Girls this summer, one of the T-Birds in the production has a batting average of 67 and the boy playing Kenickie Murdoch is a quick bowler contracted to the NSW Blues,”
“It truly is an exciting time to be in the MacAlister family.” he said.
More to come.
