Specky Magee and the Best of Oz

by Felice Arena

  Without warning, Dicky suddenly cupped his hand over his nose, and sneezed. Schnoop!

  The half-sneeze squeaked behind his hand. Specky bit his bottom lip as he heard Brother O’Donnell suddenly say: ‘Yeah, yeah, I’m here. I thought I heard something.’

  Brother O’Donnell walked a couple of paces towards the back of the library. Specky and Dicky ducked their heads.

  ‘Very funny … well, according to one of the Australian boys I can do exorcisms, so maybe I can deal with ghosts as well. Okay, okay … good … I’ll talk to you later.’

  Brother O’Donnell took one last look back in Specky and Dicky’s direction, and slipped out of the library.

  The boys let out a huge breath. They raced down the stairs, nearly knocking over Brian and Skull on the way down.

  20. grub

  ‘And then, after he told him all about the way we were going to play, and how we’re going to go into the Test with the tall forward line, he told their coach he better go out and find some tall defenders …’

  Specky and Dicky were standing in Bobby’s room telling him, Grub and Rick what they had overheard.

  ‘Can you flamin’ believe it, mate?’ asked Rick angrily, turning to Grub. ‘We accept him as part of the team, treat him like one of us, and he turns around and stabs us in the back, just like that.’

  And Specky had never seen Bobby so upset. ‘We stayed up all night planning for this next Test, and now this traitor has ruined all our good work. We might as well e-mail them our game plan and be done with it,’ he said.

  Grub looked serious, but not stressed. ‘Boys,’ he said, turning to Specky and Dicky. ‘Rick, Bobby and I are going to have a chat about things here in private for a bit. I’d really prefer it if you didn’t share any of this with the rest of the team for now. We’ll let you know how we’re going to deal with this, but for now nothing changes. Remember this is between us, okay?’

  Specky and Dicky nodded.

  ‘And, boys,’ added Grub. ‘Be sure of one thing – Brother O’Donnell’s time will come. His time will come.’

  The following morning the Australian team took advantage of Ballyglenn’s vast fields and hiking tracks and Grub set them a light training session. Specky watched his coach closely, but there was no change in his behaviour. In fact, Grub spent most of the training drill in deep conversation with Brother O’Donnell.

  ‘What do ya reckon Grub’s up to, Speck?’ puffed Dicky, as they jogged into position for their last drill. ‘He looks like he’s sucking up to that traitor more than ever.’

  ‘Dunno, Dicky,’ answered Specky. ‘But we’ll just have to trust him, I s’pose. Grub’s on to it, mate. I’m sure he’s got something up his sleeve. But we’d better keep training. If you’re going to be our secret weapon up forward, you better be able to kick straight.’

  At the end of training, Grub gathered the players around him.

  ‘Nice work, boys,’ he said. ‘Really sharp. Skills are better, we’re kicking the ball better and there’s a great spirit among you all. Now, I know you’ve got some free time this afternoon, but I just wanted to have a word with you all straight after lunch.’

  ‘Will you need me there, Jay?’ asked Brother O’Donnell. ‘I see this meeting isn’t on our schedule.’

  ‘Nah, you relax,’ said Grub. ‘You’ve done more than enough already, and I know that you and Bobby have an early afternoon tee-off time at the golf club. We’re just going to show the footage of the first Test again to reinforce how we’ll turn the result around.’

  After lunch everyone gathered in a boardroom on the first floor of the castle. Grub and Rick stood at the front of the room and waited patiently as the team settled into their seats.

  ‘Boys, competing in sport challenges us in all sorts of ways,’ Grub said, pacing around the room. ‘You need to be able to react quickly and cleverly to ensure that you stay one step ahead of the pack. Today we find ourselves confronted with one such challenge, and depending on how you choose to react to this challenge, we can either turn it into a positive or let it bring us down.’

  Specky took a deep breath. He knew how everyone would react when they heard the news. It had been tough keeping it from his teammates for twenty-four hours.

  ‘It has come to our attention that Brother O’Donnell is not who we thought he was,’ Grub added. He stopped pacing and filled the team in about Brother O’Donnell’s two-timing.

  ‘I can’t believe this!’

  ‘Rotten cheat!’

  ‘He can’t get away with this!’

  ‘Okay, okay!’ Grub said, holding up his hand for silence. ‘I can understand your frustration and disappointment. But I want you all to think very seriously about how you will cope with this information. Will you let it decide the result of tomorrow’s game before a ball has even been kicked?’

  ‘But, Grub,’ said Skull. ‘We’re stuffed! They know exactly how we’re going to line up and what our tactics are for the big game.’

  ‘Well, Morgan,’ said Grub. ‘We’ve got just under a day to do something about that.’

  21. underdogs

  Specky and his team-mates stood in the race of Galway’s hallowed Pearse Stadium. They could hear the muffled sounds of the crowd in the sta-a dium, all barracking for the local team. The Irish definitely had the home-ground advantage. The Aussie team had gone over and over Grub’s new game plan and knew they were as well prepared as they’d ever be for this massive game. But knowing what they had to do and putting it into practice were two completely different things. The team stood in silence, even Dicky was lost in his own thoughts. Then Grub’s voice echoed down the corridor. ‘C’mon, boys!’ he bellowed. ‘Look alive!’

  ‘I don’t care about the scoreboard,’ he said, slapping Specky and Brian on the back, ‘and I don’t care about the result. The only thing I care about is that you lads walk off this ground knowing that there was nothin’ more you could have done to influence this game.

  ‘The great achievements in your life are those that come about in the face of adversity,’ Grub continued, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. ‘Getting up when no one thinks you can. Rising against the odds when the normal person lies down and accepts his fate. Refusing to accept the path laid out for you, and altering that path. You can do that here if you believe in yourselves and have faith in each other.’

  Specky had played in plenty of football games in his life, but he had never experienced a team so focussed on their coach. Emotion was running high as the Australian team linked their arms over each other’s shoulders and leant forward to hear what Grub had to say.

  ‘No one thinks we’re capable of competing with these boys today. We’re the underdogs,’ Grub told them. ‘Well, guess what, boys? No one knows you like I do. Let’s go out there and prove them wrong!’

  Dicky roared at the top of his lungs, and the team cheered, hugging each other and encouraging one another to defy the odds. For the first time since he had overheard Brother O’Donnell in the library, Specky believed they had a chance at winning – maybe even a chance at taking the series.

  Inspired by Grub’s speech, Kevin Kottersley led the boys out on to the ground. They were awed by the size of the crowd and the singing coming from the stands. Specky knew that this game would be something special – an experience he would never forget. He jogged down to the goals with Rick Cosker and, just as they had done in the first Test, they finished their warmup with Rick firing balls at Specky from different angles and distances.

  Specky gloved the ball safely and securely, diving in both directions and knocking the ball clear with confidence. The crowd behind the goals, mostly school students, obviously knew how well Specky had played in the first game, and they got stuck into him the entire time.

  Specky jogged back and rejoined the team for the national anthem. This time Grub joined them in the line up. Specky scanned the edge of the pitch to find Brother O’Donnell. He was shaking hands with the Irish coach, both of them smiling slyly.r />
  Specky stood with Dicky on one side and Special K on the other, their arms hooked around each other’s shoulders. The ground announcer called for quiet and introduced the playing of the Australian National Anthem. The crowd stood as one and an eerie silence came over the ground, as the music began to play.

  ‘AUSTRALIANS ALL LET US REJOICE, FOR WE ARE YOUNG AND FREE …’

  This time Specky and his team-mates belted out the anthem. No one suffered from the selfconsciousness they had felt in the first Test. Their singing wasn’t really in tune, and not every player was singing in time, but Specky thought it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

  He and his team-mates were sending a loudand-clear message to their opponents. They were proud to be representing their country and in their own way they were throwing down the gauntlet to the Irish. Dicky was almost screaming the last few bars of the song and Specky could hear Grub’s raspy voice belting out the last lines.

  Specky looked at the Irish team lined up opposite them. There was no taunting coming from them this time, and, for a split second, Specky thought he could detect some uncertainty in the eyes of a few Irish players. The star of the team, Eamon O’Sullivan, was smiling broadly, and as the Aussie song finished, he nodded his head as if to say, ‘That’s more like it!’

  The Irish matched the Aussies for passion as they sang their anthem and then the moment of truth finally arrived.

  Tommy Finnigan and Brian Paylor were once again perched up in a commentary box, all set to call the action.

  Is it my imagination, Tommy, or do the Irish team look a lot taller and heavier than they did for the first Test?

  No, you would be right in suggesting that, Brian. I went into the Irish rooms before the game and had a chat with Coach McGinnity. He’s had a bit of a premonition about the way the Australian team will line up and has made the appropriate changes. You have to get up early to catch the Irish on the hop, Brian.

  I’ve got to say, I’m very surprised that they would change their team at all, Tommy, We have a saying in Australia that you don’t ‘flirt with your form’, and I’d say that changing a winning line-up is fraught with danger.

  You worry about the Australians, Brian. I think the Irish boys know what they’re doing … And, here we go, folks. The Australian boys have come together in a tight huddle and they’re only now taking off their tracksuit tops. There’s the bright orange goalkeeper’s top of Aussie sensation Simon Magee …’

  HANG ON A SECOND, TOMMY! That’s not Magee! That’s … I’m pretty sure that’s Dicky Atkins wearing the goalkeeper’s shirt. Strewth! What a sensation, here, folks, before we have even started. The Australians have sprung a MASSIVE surprise for the second Test. Grub Gordan’s done it again. He’s a master of the unexpected. Simon Magee, the young superstar from Melbourne, is making his way down to the Australian forward line and will take up his position at full-forward. Oh boy, I love it, Tommy. I bet you didn’t see that coming.

  Wait a minute. Is that legal, Brian? Are you allowed to do that? There seems to be some confusion down on the sidelines.

  Well, stand by for some more confusion, Tommy, because you’re not going to believe the way the Australians have set up their forward line. Magee is playing full-forward and is surrounded by Morgan, Edwards, Gleeson, Molopoulos, and a young aboriginal lad playing his first game, Jeffy Winsome. That has got to be the smallest forward line that this game has ever seen. And compare that to the Irish defence, Tommy. Every one of them is well over six feet tall. Oh, this is unbelievable. It would appear that the Irish coach has got this horribly wrong. For some reason, he’s planned for a team of giants in the Australian forward line and he now finds them matched up with five rovers and, in the biggest shock of all, with Simon Magee, the boy everyone in the stadium thought was going to play as goalkeeper. Oh boy … I think that’s round one to the Aussies.

  Specky found himself matched up against a giant of a kid by the name of Damien Kelly. Straightaway Specky realised that while he could never match Damien in the strength department, he’d be much quicker and far more agile. Specky saw that Skull, Brian, Bear, Spiro and Jeffy were in exactly the same boat – they were up against big fellas they could exploit beautifully.

  There was absolute chaos in the Irish camp. Specky saw Grub sitting on the bench with the Australian interchange players. He was obviously enjoying the show immensely. Specky looked towards the end of the bench where Brother O’Donnell sat with his head in his hands.

  The Aussie players were raring to go even before the ball was bounced, and their big, lumbering opponents were struggling to keep up with them.

  Lurch won the first tap out and the ball was grabbed by Special K. He saw Specky break to the wing and dribbled the ball along the ground in front of him. Specky swiftly gathered it up and turned towards goal. Damien Kelly ran at him, but Specky danced around him with ease, handballing quickly to Spiro, who in turn flicked it over to Brian. The big Irish defenders were powerless to stop the Aussie’s high-speed offence.

  On the run, Specky received a handball back from Brian. He put his head down and flew towards the net. The crowd were on their feet.

  Specky bounced the ball once and closed quickly on the goals. The Irish goalie came at him quickly, then stopped abruptly, aware that Specky might lob one over his head as he had done in the first Test.

  But this time, Specky caught sight of Jeffy flying towards the outer post. Specky softly handballed the ball into the space that Jeffy was heading for, and without breaking stride, Jeffy volleyed the ball in mid-air and it cannoned into the back of the net for a six-point goal.

  The crowd groaned as one. It had taken less than thirty seconds for the Aussies to score.

  Did you see that? Did you see that? Not even a minute into the game and the Australian team has put the fear of God into their opponents. This series is alive, people! Grub Gordan is a genius and, just maybe, on the back of Simon Magee, that eighteen-point margin from the first Test might be gone by half-time.

  Specky felt like he was flying. Playing in goals had been a novelty, but now he was running freely again he knew that this was where he belonged – out in the middle of the action where he could involve himself in so much more of the game.

  The Irish team was in complete disarray. On the advice of Brother O’Donnell, they had left out three of their smallest, quickest players and replaced them with big slow defenders. Their coach spent the first half reshuffling his side, trying to cope with the Aussie forward line.

  And it was becoming clear that the Irish coach was struggling to find the perfect match up on Specky. He could always turn to their champion, Eamon O’Sullivan, to do the job, but if he moved O’Sullivan on Magee that would leave no one up forward. The Irish’s team’s main style of play was based on an attacking game, not a defensive one. So no matter the score, they couldn’t risk moving their number one gun on Specky – not yet.

  Specky knew he was reading the ball beautifully and it felt as though Skull, Brian, and Jeffy could read his mind. They were always where he needed them to be, exactly when he needed them to be there.

  With two minutes to go in the first half, the Aussies led by fourteen points – just four points behind on aggregate.

  In the commentary box, Tommy Finnigan had gone quiet, leaving Brian Paylor to do much of the commentary.

  Magee has been quite magnificent, folks. He’s kicked three goals and set up two six-pointers for Winsome. What a player he is! The ball is back in the middle, and won by O’Sullivan, who is doing his best to keep the Irish in it. He kicks to half-forward where it’s gathered by Sweeney. Sweeney swings around and sends a magnificent ball towards the goal line. Atkins has done a great job in goal for the Aussies and it looks as if he’s got this one covered … But, no, look out, the Irish captain, Kavanagh, is flying towards goal as well … Atkins leaves his goal line and charges towards the ball … Kavanagh keeps coming … Atkins … Kavanagh … Atkins … Kavanagh … OH MY LORD! What a collis
ion! That, folks, has rocked Pearse Stadium to its very foundations.

  The ball has spilled free, while both players appear to be knocked out cold. O’SULLIVAN! O’Sullivan has kicked it into the back of the net. What a smashing player he is! For all the efforts of the Aussies, they lead by just eight points, giving the Irish an overall lead of ten.

  But, Tommy, neither boy has moved … There goes the siren for half-time. Let’s hope they’re both okay.

  ‘I’m fine, Grub, don’t even think about taking me off.’

  Much of the half-time break was spent debating the fitness of Dicky, who, apart from the fact that he could barely see out of one eye, was also struggling to move freely because of a massive corkie in his right thigh.

  ‘I don’t need to run much in goals and I can still see out of me other eye,’ he said, grimacing.

  Specky admired his friend’s courage, but he was worried for him too. There was absolute silence in the rooms as all eyes were fixed on Grub and Dicky.

  ‘Son, what you did just before half-time was as gutsy an act on the football field as I’ve ever seen,’ said Grub, his hand on Dicky’s shoulder. ‘You never once took your eyes off the ball – you summed up everything that’s great about this game. So, I’m going to ask you only once, and whatever answer you give me, I’m going to accept: Are you fit enough to go out there and take your place in this side without compromising our game?’

  Dicky gathered himself, threw his shoulders back, and stood tall. ‘Grub, there is nothing in this world right now that means more to me,’ he said. ‘Please give me this chance and I swear that I won’t let you or the team down.’

  ‘That’s good enough for me, son,’ Grub said.