The Botak
08-05-08, 07:34 AM
Post-match drinks a good thing: Widders
Armidale Express
7/05/2008 9:02:00 AM
ARMIDALE’S favourite son in the National Rugby League, Dean Widders, has come out in support of post-match drinks - in moderation.
Widders believes that ‘a few drinks after the game’ is actually the part of today’s football that he misses most - and this from a man who is a non-drinker.
He told 2KY on Monday morning that he enjoyed ‘the old way they used to do it’.
“You’d go up to the club, a few of the opposition players would turn up, you’d have a bit of a yarn and get to know them a bit - I thought that was a great part of the game,” he said.
“I think it does no harm - team camaraderie and that sort of stuff, it’s a good part of the game that has been lost a bit lately.
“Even though I never drank, I really enjoyed that part of it.”
Widders said most NRL players handle alcohol consumption responsibly.
“A few bad incidents get blown up and make it look like we all don’t know how to look after ourselves and do the right thing,” he said.
Widders was asked if Souths coach Jason Taylor and captain Roy Asotasi had given the players permission to ‘go out and have a few beers’ after the Rabbitohs notched their first win of the season, 28-24 over the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
“No, especially after games we have pretty high standards about not going out and drinking much, make sure your body recovers,” he said.
“That’s whether we win or lose and JT [Taylor], you have to give it to him in that area, he’s been consistent to make sure we stay the same every week.”
The previous week, Taylor had axed four players during the week for breaking the club’s booze ban the previous weekend.
“I think JT [Taylor] dealt with all that really well, and it didn’t really play much of a part once we started to prepare on Monday,” he said.
Widders also praised the role of the clubs in ‘leading the way in responsibility with alcohol’.
“We’re doing things like Souths have done, where players have to blow zero the next day, and a lot of clubs are doing that,” he said.
“And that’s a high standard to set - if you went out to any workplace and said to the people there ‘you can’t go out and drink, and we’re going to breath test you the next day’, I think a lot of them would be fined for breaking those rules.”
And what of the part played by club co-owner, Russell Crowe, who returned from the US in time to catch the Rabbitohs break their duck for the season.
“We’ll play it up to him and make out he was the reason we won, so he’ll think that he’ll never leave again and we’re desperate to have him at every game and all that sort of stuff,” Widders said.
Armidale Express
7/05/2008 9:02:00 AM
ARMIDALE’S favourite son in the National Rugby League, Dean Widders, has come out in support of post-match drinks - in moderation.
Widders believes that ‘a few drinks after the game’ is actually the part of today’s football that he misses most - and this from a man who is a non-drinker.
He told 2KY on Monday morning that he enjoyed ‘the old way they used to do it’.
“You’d go up to the club, a few of the opposition players would turn up, you’d have a bit of a yarn and get to know them a bit - I thought that was a great part of the game,” he said.
“I think it does no harm - team camaraderie and that sort of stuff, it’s a good part of the game that has been lost a bit lately.
“Even though I never drank, I really enjoyed that part of it.”
Widders said most NRL players handle alcohol consumption responsibly.
“A few bad incidents get blown up and make it look like we all don’t know how to look after ourselves and do the right thing,” he said.
Widders was asked if Souths coach Jason Taylor and captain Roy Asotasi had given the players permission to ‘go out and have a few beers’ after the Rabbitohs notched their first win of the season, 28-24 over the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
“No, especially after games we have pretty high standards about not going out and drinking much, make sure your body recovers,” he said.
“That’s whether we win or lose and JT [Taylor], you have to give it to him in that area, he’s been consistent to make sure we stay the same every week.”
The previous week, Taylor had axed four players during the week for breaking the club’s booze ban the previous weekend.
“I think JT [Taylor] dealt with all that really well, and it didn’t really play much of a part once we started to prepare on Monday,” he said.
Widders also praised the role of the clubs in ‘leading the way in responsibility with alcohol’.
“We’re doing things like Souths have done, where players have to blow zero the next day, and a lot of clubs are doing that,” he said.
“And that’s a high standard to set - if you went out to any workplace and said to the people there ‘you can’t go out and drink, and we’re going to breath test you the next day’, I think a lot of them would be fined for breaking those rules.”
And what of the part played by club co-owner, Russell Crowe, who returned from the US in time to catch the Rabbitohs break their duck for the season.
“We’ll play it up to him and make out he was the reason we won, so he’ll think that he’ll never leave again and we’re desperate to have him at every game and all that sort of stuff,” Widders said.