By RON LANE
IN THIS day and age when the “Me” factor is becoming so prevalent, it is indeed very refreshing to meet two such ladies as Lexie Mawn and Clare Robinson. Both ladies have three major characteristics in common; both are country women, both very loyal, and both very dedicated to the Noosa Pirates Rugby League Club.
For Lexie, her involvement with football started in the year 2000 when her two sons Nick and Mitch joined the Pirates Junior Rugby League club.
“They played up through the junior grades and played U/18 and U/20s. It was all good times for me as well as the boys. The parents involved were great people, so in 2009 it only seemed natural for me to continue what I love doing; so I went into the senior club.”
Following this, Lexie quickly became involved in management, and in 2012 was appointed to the position of club secretary.
“When I first went into the senior club, they were really great times for the Pirates.”
“Chris O’ Grady was president and his wife Sue was secretary; and to cap it off, our head coach was the legendary Noel Goldthorpe. Goldy did well as a coach and took us to three premierships. Chris and Sue were great, they steered the club through some tough times and when they retired, they both finished their careers as Life Members. Their awards were well deserved.”
“To add to this, two years ago the committee instigated the O’ Grady Medal named in recognition of Chris’ outstanding contribution. This award goes to the Club Person of The Year, and it is held in such high regard that if there is no-one who stands head and shoulders above all, then it is not awarded.”
Lexie was born in Wallumbilla and educated in Roma. On leaving high school, her introduction into the workforce was on the staff of the local Stock and Station Agency in Roma. After several years, Lexie moved to Noosa, married and spent time nursing.
But it was in 1996 that Lexie (who is a very small lady) really bit the bullet and joined the Queensland Police Force.
“I spent 16 years and six months in the force. When I retired, I was doing plain clothes work as a member of the Child Protection Unit based at Noosa. It was pretty daunting stuff, but very rewarding. Some experiences will stay with me forever.”
About her size she laughs. “Well,” she said, “I couldn’t hold back, I just had to go for it, and because of my attitude, they realised that I was dead serious, so it was all good from there on.”
Among the ladies she met and was to work with for many long hours at Pirates was Clare Robinson.
Clare, who hails from Cooroy, started her association with Rugby League when some Cooroy boys joined suburbs in Gympie in 1973. Then Noosa Pirates became established in 1975 with the team playing home games at the Rodeo grounds in Cooroy. Then in the 1980s, the club moved to what is now known as Pirate Park in Tewantin, and from then on Clare continued her support, eventually taking a seat on the committee; a seat she still holds today.
“Also with two sons Craig and Mark playing for Pirates, I guess you could say the club became my life, and I have loved every minute.
Born in Nambour, Clare shifted to Cooroy with her family in her young years, and obtained her education at the local schools.
“We lived in Cooroy itself, then later my family bought a small crops farm out along Neusavale Road. By the time I became involved with Pirates, I had worked in the bar trade and hospitality industry, so I put my hand up to help in the canteen with Sue O’Grady and Robyn Wales. We did that during the game, then after we moved inside to run the bar. It was during these years that I met up with Lexie and we became good friends.’’
Both ladies agree that some of the major achievements in their time have been winning three premierships in a row, the success of the Noosa Pirates Rodeo (their big fund-raiser) and the installation of the floodlights for the playing field. But they agreed, we couldn’t have achieved this without the great team of committee people and workers.
Clare who was involved with the Rodeo right from the start remembers the first.
“Working with Sue O’ Grady and other ladies, we were worried about these big tough cowboys; how would we control them after the events were over and they came into the bar. Well you wouldn’t believe it. The first cowboy walked to the bar, touched his hat and said, Evening mam could I have four rum and cokes please mam. They were like that all evening,” she said laughing.
“Perfect gentleman; what a relief.”
As Clare said, “Sometimes it has been hard and the season’s long, but we wouldn’t swap it for the world.”
Just two great ladies among the many; and all our people.
