Freo plays for sheep stations

The sheep station shield.

Sport was serious business off the west coast of Bathurst Island when HMAS Fremantle (LCDR Matt Brown) took a short hiatus from its patrol duties to host the Sheep Stations’s Olympics.

The competition consisted of the ‘youngies’ (those yet to serve seven years in Navy) battling it out against the ‘oldies’ (those of a more mature ilk) with the prize the magnificent Fremantle Sheep Station Shield.

The afternoon consisted of eight events requiring a different level of skill and dexterity.

Tug-o-war and oscar-put required brute strength while the LUB paddle and swimmer of the watch relay race required teamwork. Egg throw, Lord of the Ring heaving-line throw and splash for cash bombdiving required specific skills while the Ice Man zooper-dooper-ice-confectionary-boat-race required less orthodox skills.

In the first event, the tug o’ war, the oldies looked to have it won easily until it was discovered that the youngies had recruited AB Bollard on the quarterdeck as an anchorman. Further investigation revealed that the oldies too had recruited CPO Capstan on the forecastle as their anchorman. Both teams were disqualified and the tug-o-war restarted, oldies claiming the first blow.

In a see-sawing knife-edged Olympics, the lead changed several times and at the end of the seventh event the score was three-a-piece with one tie. It was all to come down to the final event - the splash for cash bombdiving. Each competitor in the three-man team would get two attempts to make the biggest splash.

With tension mounting and a sheep station up for grabs, blokes big and small tried their hand.

Some bombers stuck with the tried and tested cannonball, others pulled a jack-knife or the appropriately named suicide, but it was LS Craig Dunn from the oldies who swept the field with his perfectly executed layback and secured the Fremantle Olympics for the oldies.

The closing ceremony saw the lowering of the Olympic flag, the snuffing out of the cauldron and the presentation of the Sheep Station Shield.

On receipt of the shield the oldies captain CPO Steve Dodd said a gracious ‘well done, oldies’ before they all shuffled off for a little lie down.

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