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Thread: Bruce Gallaher, 75, still playing full-contact rugby

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    Bruce Gallaher, 75, still playing full-contact rugby









    Old and tough...Bruce Gallaher, 75, in action at the World Masters games. Picture: Phil Hillyard. Source: The Daily Telegraph




    BRUCE Gallaher is 75 years old but plays his rugby like a man 10 years younger. He is another of those World Masters miracles.


    He walked onto TG Millner Field yesterday with his team, the Old Thistles, down by some 30 points.

    They sent out Bruce, perhaps the world's oldest rugby player. Certainly the world's oldest full-contact rugby player.

    "I'm out of my depth physically but not as far as handling goes. I've played a lot of football," he said.

    Masters rugby is a lesson in slow pain. To qualify you must be over 45 and possess a working heartbeat. Any sense of self-preservation for longevity is clearly optional.

    Most players are strapped up like Bankstown trotters by the time they hit the paddock.


    It's reasonable to wonder if, stripped of all that bandaging, what's left might just crumble.

    When there's a collision on the field the players untangle themselves in slow, stilted movements.

    Bruce, from Ballina, didn't need to get himself in shape because he has always kept himself in shape, playing Golden Oldies rugby and weekly touch and riding his bike.

    The attraction for the opposition, Mosman, was former Wallaby Peter FitzSimons. Yesterday he walked off with a confession: "Peter FitzSimons got past me."

    But Masters rugby is nothing if it is not about finding the positive.

    "You're the first halfback he's ever beaten, Brucey," one teammate said.

    http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/spo...-1225786449221

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    I feel very unfit all of a sudden

    Good on ya Bruce

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