AFL Master has a ball at 74
IF SCIENTISTS find a way to bottle whatever keeps West Australian footballer Cobber Rogers going then everybody will stop shuddering whenever an extra candle is added to their birthday cake.
The 74-year-old is the oldest player at the AFL National Masters Carnival in Cairns but if anyone has ever proved age is just a number it is Rogers.
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The Kalgoorlie resident has put blokes half his age to shame by playing two games a day at the tournament for the West Australian over-50 and over-55 sides.
Rogers, who is attending his third national carnival, said football had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember.
"I come from a small country town. We kicked the football before school, at school during lunch and after school," the small forward said.
"I’ve always stayed involved in it. I moved into coaching at one stage but I never stopped training.
"Even now I run five times a week for 5km, 8km and sometimes 10km at a time. I’m quite fanatical about my fitness."
Rogers made his senior debut at 16 for his then local club, Burracoppin, in the West Australian Eastern Districts Football League, playing in the premiership-winning side of 1958.
Nowadays he plays his masters football in Kalgoorlie.
With the mining town lacking an official masters competition, Rogers and his teammates play their matches against the reserves and colts sides of neighbouring senior clubs, police teams and even an outfit from Eastern Goldfields Regional Prison.
"They go pretty well," Rogers said of the prisoners.
"They seem to fall in a bit of a hole towards the end of each quarter because they probably don’t do that much training.
"But now it’s become a regular fixture they are starting to get a bit fitter."
Whether it is against the incarcerated or intestate rivals, Rogers will keep playing for as long as his body allows him.
"The real blight of football is that when you retire a lot of ex-players end up with crook knees and crook ankles," he said.
"I don’t suffer from that and never have.
"I'm still running OK. Certainly I’ve lost my speed but the endurance is still there. I’ll play for as long as I can. Next year I turn 75, so that’s a bit of a milestone I guess.
"But barring injury I have no plans to stop."
Stingers thrive on blood, sweat, beers
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Still got the passion: Western Australian footballer Cobber Rogers dishes off a handball yesterday. Picture: MIKE WATT
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