The year was 1973, the venue the Poplar Lounge at Taree (now the Waterfront Room), the occasion Taree United Rugby League Club’s celebrations following a hard-earned 8-3 win over arch rivals Taree Old Bar in the Group Three grand final played earlier that day.

It was also Max Coggan’s last game for United.

A lock forward who represented Group Three and North Coast, Coggan was a key player in United’s premiership successes in 1971 and 73.

So to mark his retirement Coggan had a celebratory sip of champagne out of his football boots as the festivities raged. Unlike most footballers of the era, Coggan wasn’t a big drinker – he famously missed United’s Mad Monday after the club’s 1971 grand final triumph, instead preferring to head to work as a school teacher at Chatham Public School. However, winning a grand final in his last game was reason enough for him to lash out, even if he used his boot for a glass.

“That might have been the last drink I had,’’ he quipped.

Unfortunately he doesn’t have the boot anymore.

“I gave them to Mark Hogan,’’ he said.

Hogan, then 17, played on the wing in the 1973 premier team.

Shoeys have become a regular feature of sporting celebrations since Daniel Ricciardo introduced the trend to Formula One in 2016. Coggo always was ahead of his time.