Brian Friend, known is ‘Friendly’ and now 82-years-young, has commenced his 50th year of coaching the little ones at Avalon Bulldogs Junior Rugby League Club for the Winter Season.
After the Season for youngsters closes in August, there's a short pause, and then the Touch Footy Season, to keep the kids outdoors in the fresh air having some fun with their mates, begins - a few years ago the Avalon JRLC they had 730 youngsters doing handstands and cartwheels in between sprints down the field with the ball tucked firmly under one arm.
Three Friend generations at Avalon Bulldogs, a few years back
As our final Seniors Celebration Profile for Seniors month 2025, Friendly shares a few insights on what his Under 7’s gain through joining a team and having a play, as well as a few insights into his own long-term playing with the Narrabeen Sharks, now as a Master, and his ongoing commitment as a volunteer referee.
You have been coaching Under 6’s and Under 7’s for 50 years this Season – how did it all begin?
I’d been coaching Under 14’s and 15’s from about 1966 on to around 1970, I’d been playing A Grade for Avalon, and I then thought I’d have a bit of a rest. In 1975 my missus Robyn took my eldest son Chris and middle son Carl over to Hitchcock Park – one was 6 and the other was 4 – because the kids wanted to play footy.
She came home and I said ‘how did it go?’ and Robyn said, ‘Up the s**t, there was no coach. So guess what; you’re coaching’.
From then on I started coaching Under 7’s. It was full normal fields, like Manly-Warringah plays on, with 13 a side, and that was I, I was in.
By the end of the first game I’d just about pulled half my hair out. For the second game we played at Narraweena and my old mate Frank Cridland was coaching Under 7’s there as well. He sat me down after the game and explained to me how to do it to make it easy - I was really rapt in that bloke because he knew everything about it. We didn’t win a game that year – we had a draw in the last game, and I got drunk for about a week after that just thinking about how good having a draw was.
Friendly with Bob Butcher (Harbord) and Frank Cridland (Narraweena) - Life Members of Manly Warringah District Junior Rugby Football League Inc.
The next year I committed myself full on to it and I got Kenny Schuetrumph, who was a policeman at Avalon Police Station, as my Manager. His young son Grant wanted to play. We had about 17 or 18 kids. We trained them into the ground and went through and won the Grand Final. I was pretty rapt in that too – and that’s how it all started.
1984 Avalon vs Narraweena M1 Grade (under 8's) at a Brookvale Oval Exhibition Match. Back from Left: Brian Friend, Ray Granger, Ted Slater far right.
When was Avalon Bulldogs formed?
They started in 1962.
The Season starts April 6 – have you been doing some training the past few weeks?
Yeah, I’ve been training with my kids. What happened this year I was getting the team running and having a few starts – except I’ve got 31 kids.
Goodness!
Tell me about it. So we’ve got three teams – we have two other blokes chasing the other two teams. I’ve got the younger ones, the 4’s and 5’s, and they have the 5’s and 6’s.
Is it a bi noisy?
Yes and no; it’s a bit hard to keep them focussed, that’s the hardest thing. They want to play with each other and run around – so it comes with a fair bit of work and it’s about half a Season before they understand what they are actually doing.
What’s the best part about it for the youngsters?
I think the camaraderie – their mateship forms. As I’ve explained to the parents, on the first night of training so they know what to expect; your kids are going to know nothing this year but they’ll be good at the back end of the Season. But if you come to me during the first few weeks of the Season and say ‘I’m terribly sorry, but my son won’t make a footballer while his mucking about down on the ground’.
I say to them ‘no, no – trust me, come to me at the end of the Season and tell me then what you think of your son’s playing’ and nearly every time they come back and say ‘you’re right – he is now playing football’.
Are you still playing with the Narrabeen Masters team Friendly?
Yeah - we played last weekend actually and we’re playing at Bargo next weekend.
Sharkies Masters 2025
When did you first start playing footy?
When I was 9. I started at Narrabeen because I was living at Narrabeen.
So that’s around 70 years of playing rugby league?
Something like that. I played A Grade with Narrabeen, I think I played about 4 years of A Grade with Narrabeen.
I moved out to Narrabeen when I got married in January ’67, and we formed an A Grade team there with Charlie and Bert Kerr, who lived in that house with the stone out the front with ‘'Yab Leerac'’ on Barrenjoey road – Len Kerr built that place and they were all Stonemasons. The name ‘'Yab Leerac'’ is Careel Bay backwards. I think there were 4 boys - George, Charlie, Burt and young Joe. I coached young Joe – and Charlie and Bert played in the A Grade team. The Feehley brothers played, Keith and Barry, Johnny Argent too – he’s got a couple of boys playing Rugby Union for the Rats. John’s a real good player and a good coach.
The Touch Footy is well over 700 youngsters in the off season - how did that start?
When we started, the first Avalon A grade was in the early ‘70’s, we only had it for three years and we kept getting a flogging every week and ran out of players, so in ’93 we got this A Grade.
The kids came around to our place and said ‘we want to get an A Grade going.’ And I said I’d give them all the support I can.
To keep them fit during Summer I decided to run a touch footy comp. So we started over at Hitchcock Park at 6pm on a Wednesday night and thought we’d just run it for an hour and word got around and before you knew we had twelve teams!
So then I had to organise referees, had to mark the fields every two weeks, which is mowing and mowing and mowing and marking and I said ‘what am I doing?’. It just got bigger!
'Line Marking Kings': Brian Friend and Paul Collins - December 2015
We got to sixteen teams and we couldn’t put anymore on then sixteen teams; and it’s still going today. So I did the first ones since '93 and 2008 I think I pulled the pin on doing all that.
What happened in 2002 was all the mothers got together and said ‘hang on, you’re running this for them; what about all the kids who want something?’ and I said, well I coach kids in winter, I can’t do twelve months.’ And they said ‘come one, we’ll give you a hand.’.
So I went down and saw Annie Misdale here who does the grub in the canteen and another couple of mothers and we talked about starting a kid’s touch football on a Friday night and asked if they’d give me a hand. So we started it off and we had about 300 kids turn up for the first season.
I had to work out the draws, and I had to mark the fields, and then I had to work out who was playing in what, so we had a 8’s and under, 10’s and under and a 12’s and under, 14’s and under and 16’s and under. That’s five times; so I used to start at 4.30 in the afternoon and go through to ten o’clock at night, every Friday night.
In 2022 we had 730 kids playing between 4.30pm and 8.30pm. I have 36 referees that control 33 games during the afternoon and evening. We can only handle 8 teams per time slot as that is all the fields we have.
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What has rugby given to you?
Mateship – camaraderie.
Does the Bulldogs have an A Grade team this year?
We’ve got 24 registered players playing A Grade this year. On the Sunday just gone they played a team from St. George in a trial match – it was a ring buster, and we would have had 400 people there with no worries at all.
What are you looking forward to this Season?
Just having a great game of footy and enjoying ourselves – and to keep playing Masters of Rugby League and refereeing.
What is your ‘motto for life’ or a favourite phrase you try to live by?
You’re here for a good time not a long time
Also, many many years ago a bloke said to me, and I kept saying it all the time to the point where a girl from Acacia clothing made a hat for me… How good is this ?
Have you ever seen that movie ‘The Castle’ and the scene about ‘the serenity’ ...? Yeah…like that
Also from many years ago; I’ll sleep when I’m dead - I haven’t got time to sit on my ar*e…
Thanks Friendly, have a great Season and – GO the Doggies!
Queens Birthday June 2013 OAM Honours - Brian Friend
For service to touch football, and to the community of Manly Warringah
Other Services listed in 2013:
Executive Member, Manly Warringah Business Houses and Services Touch Football Association, since 1994; President, for one year; Secretary, for 15 years; Life Member; Competition Director, for 5 years; referee, for 18 years.
Founder and Executive Member, Bangalley's Junior Touch Football, 2001-2008.
Founder and Executive Member, Hole in the Wall Touch Football Association, 1993-2008.
Co-Founder and Executive Member, Warringah Touch Football Association, since 1983; Life Member; Registrar, for 10 years; referee, for 19 seasons.
Coach, Avalon Junior Rugby League Football Club, since the 1970s; President, for 3 years; Member, Grounds Committee; Life Member.
Life Member, Manly Warringah District Junior Rugby League; referee, for 21 years.
Member, Avalon Surf Club, since 1965.
Fundraising activities for a range of organisations including:
- Mona Vale Hospital Children's Ward.
- New South Wales Police Legacy.
- Bear Cottage, Manly.
Current Chairman, Metropolitan North Retired Police Association.
Current Chairman, Retired Water Police.
Current Member, New South Wales Police Association.
Awards/recognition include:
- Centenary Medal, 2001.
- Queen's Commendation for Bravery, 1974.
- NSW Police Commissioner's Commendation for Courage, 1974.
- Australia Day Citizen of the Year, Pittwater Council, 2000.
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Groundskeeper and Referee
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ANZAC Day every year
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