By Molly Magennis
Yarraville Trugo Club will be celebrating their 85th anniversary this year.
A unique and often unheard of sport, Trugo has strong historical connections with the western suburbs. It was developed at the Newport railway workshops before 1927, when informal games are believed to have started at Yarraville.
In turn, this prompted the formation of Trugo clubs at Yarraville and Footscray in 1937.
John McMann has been a member of the Yarraville Trugo Club for 32 years.
He explained Trugo is played on a green that is about 90 feet in length, and players have to hit rubber rings between their legs.
“Then it’s got to go through the goal post without touching it, if it touches the goal post it’s out,” he said.
There are no points in Trugo, only goals, and each team is usually made up of eight players.
Each team hits four rubber rings from each end, before swapping sides after 12 hits.
The 92-year-old said the ultimate score for each player is 24, which is extremely hard to get. Anyone who does get the magic number gets their name in a record book.
Mr. McMann scored three 24’s in the year 2000.
“That was my goal [to get in the record book],” he said.
Mr. McMann said he and the committee are currently working on a way to celebrate the club’s milestone, hopefully in May before the end of the season.
