http://kempsey.yourguide.com.au/news/local...ay/1236238.html
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League great’s passion at work in the Macleay Luke Horton
q One of the best: Jim Murphy toured New Zealand with the Australian rugby league team in 1971
A proud Queenslander, Jim Murphy has spent the past three decades living in the Macleay, and a profound love for the game to which he has dedicated a great portion of his life has failed to dim with age.
Born and bred in Brisbane, Murphy played all his junior football with Brothers St Brendans before joining the Air Force in 1966.
A move to the RAAF’s Amberley base reignited his career when he joined the short-lived Air Force side.
“They quickly fell apart but I ended up playing for West End and represented Ipswich in the 1967 Belinda Cup, which was a preamble to the State side,” Murphy said.
“I was then approached by Brisbane Souths and ended up playing with them from 1968-73.”
It was during his time with Souths that Murphy’s talents began to be noticed by selectors.
He played for his country and his State in the early 1970s, touring New Zealand in 1971 with greats of the game such as Bob Fulton, John Sattler, Graeme Langlands, Artie Beetson, Bob McCarthy and Wayne Bennett.
“I can remember when I first came up against John Sattler in a State game, he gave me a hell of a belting and by the end of the game I had 23 stitches,” he said.
“After the game he sought me out and asked me ‘did you learn anything today?’
“I said ‘yeah I did. I learned to stay away from big blokes like you’.”
But Murphy would meet Sattler again, as a teammate on the Australian side, and this time the South Sydney great was quick to impress the finer points of the game upon his young protege.
“He taught me a lot in the short time we toured together,” he said.
“But at the end of it he said he could only teach me so much.
“When I asked him why, he replied ‘because I’ve got to play you again next year’.”
By the early 1970s Murphy was on the radar of some of Sydney’s biggest clubs.
“Wests approached me in 1973 and talked me into going down to play in Sydney,” he said.
“But the main reason I had for going was to prove a point of my own, that Queenslanders could play first grade in Sydney.”
His five years at Wests is remembered fondly as a time when football was played for enjoyment rather than simply making a buck, and where a club became your family and home away from home.
“It was very much different to football now, it was more like a family, you stuck together,” he said.
“There was never any mention of moving to another club, there was a lot of loyalty while I was there.”
Murphy’s own loyalty to the club was rewarded when he was selected as the starting prop in the Magpies ‘Team of the 70s’ last year.
Now a grandfather, Murphy has spent the 30-odd years since finishing his career trying to strengthen the game of league in the country.
A member of numerous boards and selection panels, he has also coached and played for various clubs across the Macleay.
Currently coach of the Smithtown under sevens, Murphy laments the lack of interest shown by league officials in supporting the game in the bush, particularly in recent years.
“The game’s more professional now, more like a business, even here in the bush,” he said.
“I can remember when I first came to Kempsey all the families of the players would get together and make a day of it.
“That doesn’t happen any more.”
q Jim Murphy is the second player to appear in The Argus’ ‘Local Legends of League’ series, celebrating the centenary of rugby league in the Macleay.
As part of the local celebrations a special event will be held at Coffs Harbour’s BCU International Stadium on May 28, which will recognise up to 60 past greats from around the region.
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