THE Old Bar-Central Newcastle masters rugby league game is set to become an annual event on the Joel Dark Memorial Day conducted by the Old Bar Pirates.
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This follows the success of the inaugural game played in hot conditions at Old Bar.
While no official scores were kept, the Pirates grabbed the bragging rights with a 9-8 win courtesy of a Ryan Merrick field goal just before fulltime.
"We tried to keep it as close to masters rugby league rules as possible - all the players were supposed to be 35 and over,'' Old Bar's Darrin Dark said.
"But both sides stretched that a bit.''
Dark's son, Kurt, was given special dispensation to play as was a cousin, Matt Cordner, who travelled from Albury where he is stationed with the army.
The Pirates trained once a week for about six weeks leading into the contest. Steve Samson, Daniel Harris, Mick Earley, Pete Presnall - who made the journey from Walcha - and former captain-coach Aaron Raper were among other starters. Jeff McIntosh was the only casualty, injuring a rib.
Former Australian and NSW captain Boyd Cordner - Joel Dark's cousin - ran the water for the Pirates. He wasn't long back from Las Vegas for the NRL season opener with the Sydney Roosters.
Ex-NRL player Dane Tilse was among those in the Central squad.
Dark admits the game was willing at times but always played in the right spirit although he said he was a 'bit sore' the following day.
Spectators turned out in force, with the crowd estimated to be bigger than the turnout of for last season's Group Three preliminary final played at Old Bar.
Darrin Dark said the program would be further extended next year, with Central planning to bring up a couple of junior sides to match the Pirates.
Joel Dark was the youngest son of Darrin and Narelle Dark. He played with both the Pirates and Central Newcastle and the memorial day was instigated in 2021 following his death in September 2020.
