A Proud Night for Maccabi Rugby Club

SPIRITS are rising at Maccabi Rugby Club, as the club held its first annual gala and awards night in close to a decade on October 5 to celebrate its successful 2024 Subbies Rugby season and promising signs of growth for the future. Maccabi, who in recent seasons finished at the bottom of the Jeffrey Cup table, came sixth out of 11 teams in a stronger regular season competition that merged two divisions and then made the Meldrum Cup finals series, bowing out in a preliminary final, losing by just three points to North Cronulla.

Another on-field highlight in 2024 was defeating the minor premiers, Georges River, in the last regular season round. Club president Aaron Stern said there were also many positives off the field for the club this year, including moving to Burrows Park in Clovelly, purchasing a scrum machine and a multipurpose video camera, maintaining major sponsors Horizon Built and Field to Fork and sporting a new team jersey.

“We have an influx of younger players,” Stern said, “and as we play together more, our chemistry will grow and we will be a more formidable force. “This year, we laid the foundations for the club and next year, we will build something special.” Stern, who successfully returned after one season off, earned the Player of the Year award. Jared Elbourne was named Most Improved Player, and the
team’s prime kicker and goalkicker, Chad Bobrow, won the Players’ Player Award and paid credit to the team’s forward pack, for laying the platform each game. Brendan Pilman received the
Richard Bowman Clubman of the Year Award, while experienced back Ben Hirschman was awarded the Jeffrey Cup Medal by Subbies Rugby. Hirschman was presented that award by Dean Friedlander – the last Maccabi player to win it, back in 2016. “I wasn’t expecting this at all and it is a very cool encapsulation of this year, which is only because of the team’s effort,” he said. In a very special moment, Dave Myers was presented with the highest award that the club can offer, life membership. He is only the second person to earn it, after former Wallaby, the late David Emanuel, did decades ago.

A long-time Maccabi player, a former president, club coordinator and coach and still a tireless volunteer – and a Subbies Rugby touch judge – Myers was given a standing ovation and a framed
Maccabi jersey. He recalled rebuilding the club after it folded in the late ’80s due to lack of numbers, and feels excited about the potential of the club today and especially its ability to recruit young, talented players. “The annual Jewish Day Schools Rugby Cup is the lifeline and future, of this club,” Myers said. “I really appreciate this award and I feel that the club is in good hands.”

Source: AJN