The Canberra Royals Rugby community were deeply saddened to learn of the passing last Tuesday evening of one of our finest ever players and a premiership winning 1st grade coach, Graham Reed (‘‘Reedy’’). ‘Reedy’ had been battling cancer for a couple of years and finally lost his battle due to complications associated with the cancer.
The Reed family, parents Ted and Marie, brother Peter and sister Janine moved to Canberra from Nowra in January 1973. Ted was in the Navy and both he and Marie were great supporters of Royals and his brother, Peter was a regular player before himself joining the Navy. ‘Reedy’ commenced playing rugby with Royals junior club, Hawks that year. The team included the likes of future dual international Michael O’Connor, future Royals 1st graders and ACT representatives David Wilson and Jim Renwick as well as Royals stalwarts, John ‘Pudge’ Hillier and Peter Brown. It was probably the finest junior team to come out of the extensive Royals junior structure from that era. The team won numerous junior premierships and as was the practice in those days, the various junior teams amalgamated to form Royals sides at Under 16 level. From Under 14s right through to Under 18s the team was coached by another Royals stalwart in Graeme Matthew.
‘Reedy’ was a standout backrower right through his junior years playing in all representative sides culminating in his selection (in Year 11) in the famously undefeated 1977/78 Australian Schoolboys side for the tour of the UK and Ireland. The team included the three Ella brothers (Mark, Glen and Gary), Wally Lewis and his Royals teammate Michael O’Connor among many others who made their mark in senior rugby. ‘Reedy’ was again selected for Australian Schoolboys in 1978. He attended Marist College in 1977 and 1978 and played for the 1st XV in those years. However, in defiance of school rules ‘Reedy’ continued to play for Royals Under 17s and 18s. He’d play for Royals in the morning and Marist 1st XV in the afternoon.
‘Reedy’ went straight from schoolboy/junior rugby to 1st Grade at Royals in 1979. The John Kelsey coached team won a thrilling Grand Final that year with 13-12 over Queanbeyan with a Michael O’Connor field goal near full time. Royals repeated the dose in 1980 with a 10-6 win over Wests. Canberra Times rugby correspondent, Michael Foster wrote that No8 Graham Reed played ‘one of the best individual games of rugby seen in Canberra in years.’ ‘Reedy’ was selected for the Australian Under 21s in 1980. Many keen rugby observers are adamant that but for untimely injuries, including a major knee reconstruction in 1985, ‘Reedy’ would have played for the Wallabies. As it was, he was a first pick ACT representative when fit and was a significant figure in Royals dominance of ACT rugby through the 1980s and into the1990s. Royals played 11 successive grand finals between 1984 and 1994 and remarkably all four grades also played every grand final in this period. The 1st grade team won 5 successive grand finals between 1987 and 1991 with ‘Reedy’ a dominant figure in 1987 as a player and in 1991 as the 1st grade coach. ‘Reedy’ coached Royals to two further 1st grade grand finals 1992 and 1993 which resulted in narrow losses to University and Wests respectively. ‘Reedy’ was always an outstanding clubman and his positive influence went far beyond his feats as a player and coach.
‘Reedy’ won Royals major award the JS Waters trophy for Best Sportsman in 1984.
He was awarded Royals Best Forward in 1st grade in 1987
And was recognised for long and enduring service to the club with the Bill Lavis Memorial Service Award in 1992.
In 1995 ‘Reedy’ coached the Canberra Kookaburras Colts team in the Sydney competition. He was the Kookaburras Clubman of the Year in 1995. ‘Reedy’ continued to coach at Tuggeranong Vikings and the Canberra Kookaburras/Vikings winning several premierships. This was broken by a short stint running the Northern Territory Rugby Academy and representative program.
‘Reedy’ is survived by his daughter Sarah, son David, brother Peter and sister Janine. He will be greatly missed by his many friends at Royals and the club will be forever grateful for the massive contribution he made as a player, coach and clubman.
A service to celebrate Reedy’s life will be held at 1:00pm on Friday 28 March at Vikings Park, Erindale.
