Published on: 7 November 2014





More than 60 former captains of sport were honoured at a special Old Boys’ Assembly held on Thursday morning. President of the Old Boys’ Association Adam Collins (Class of 1987) said this year’s assembly theme highlighted the importance of sport throughout Christ Church’s history.

The former captains, representing every sport from athletics through to surfing, ranged from 1957 through to 2013. Five old boys, who captained their respective teams to PSA victory, were asked to stand in their place while School Prefects read aloud excerpts from The Mitre reports. Cliff Watkins, coach of the 1971, 1974 and 1977 Alcock Cup winning teams and Christ Church’s only football premierships, was also recognised.

The guest speaker for the assembly was Fremantle Docker Luke McPharlin (Class of 1999). Luke said while considering the impact of leadership for his address, he regretted not aspiring to be a captain in his school days.

Luke has been a member of Fremantle’s leadership group since the club’s inception and he spoke about watching the emergence of the group’s importance and impact on team culture over the years. He said true leadership was not autocratic; it was about working together as a team.

The assembly included two photographic slideshows, one of sporting highlights and one of the PSA premiership wins from 1957 to 2014. There were also musical performances by old boy Sam Rocchi (Class of 2013), who performed an acoustic guitar adaption of John Butler’s Oceans, and the Year 7 Rock Workshop Band.