A vital component of a South Sydney pack famed for its toughness, a strength and conditioning afficionado since hanging up the boots, and now a key figure behind the NRL’s referees, David Boyle takes Big League through his fascinating rugby league journey.
DAVID, YOU’VE BEEN THE NRL’S HIGH PERFORMANCE MANAGER OF OFFICIATING FOR SEVEN SEASONS – HOW DID YOU END UP IN THAT ROLE?
It’s seven days a week and we’re available all day, every day. I ignored them for 40 years, then got offered the job about six years ago when I was lecturing [at the Australian College of Physical Education]. Now I’ve got the utmost respect for them.
I’m actually doing a PhD, trying to understand and evaluate the physical and emotional and perceptual cognitive skills of the referees. It takes them about 10 years from the time they start blowing the whistle to get to the NRL. And there’s about 8,500 subconscious decisions they have to make every game.
There’s 30 decisions they’re going to make from play-the-ball to play-the-ball. Is the marker square? Did they play the ball with their feet? Is it a clean tackle? Are they onside? The dummy-half pass. And there’s about 270 up to 300 play-the-balls a game. Their compliance is around 92 percent. The game’s based on the statistics: it’s 85 percent ball in play and three and a half second play-the-balls. The referees have to apply the rules – if the players don’t want to [adhere to them] it’s going to be a long day for them.
HAS YOUR RESEARCH AND YOUR EXPERIENCE IN THE NRL ROLE MADE YOU REFLECT ON YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH REFEREES WHEN YOU WERE A PLAYER?
Absolutely. They were just a necessary evil when I was playing. You respected them, but you don’t appreciate how hard they train. Now they’re doing multiple appointments – we’ve got guys flying up to Townsville and then they’ll come back and [be in the] Bunker, then they’ll have to go down to Canberra for game. They suffer a lot of duress and it’s real teamwork to monitor all their movements and their training loads. And not everybody wants to be a referee and get yelled at.
AND YOU’VE BEEN IN THE STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING SPACE PRETTY MUCH SINCE YOU RETIRED FROM PLAYING IN 1991?
I did a Masters in Business Administration, I was in marketing when I finished at Souths. My first strength and conditioning role was at the Dragons in 1994 with Brian Smith, that’s when they went fulltime.
BY ALL ACCOUNTS, YOU WERE A BIT AHEAD OF YOUR TIME AS A PLAYER IN TERMS OF YOUR COMMITMENT TO FITNESS AND PHYSICAL PREPARATION?
That was my strength, I was super-fit and I didn’t want to let my teammates down. I probably drank too much, but that was just the norm in those days – you train hard, you drink hard, you back up. And I was lucky, I got into a good team [at Souths] with the Ramplings (Tony and Dean), Mick Carberry and Craig Coleman. We’re all still good mates now.
YOU WERE BORN IN NARRABRI (NORTHERN NSW) AND BROUGHT UP IN THE ILLAWARRA, WHERE YOU STILL LIVE NOW – HOW DID YOU LAND AT THE RABBITOHS?
I had an uncle that was a talent scout with Newtown, so I was training with them. I had a good friend, Michael Carberry, at Souths and we trained on the same day. I went to pick him up and [Souths CEO] Terry Parker said, ‘Why don’t you train with us?’ So I trained with Souths for a few weeks, [coach] Bill Anderson offered me a job and said if I stayed there he’d get me contracted. Johnny Sattler was my hero – we’d had a coaching clinic and Johnny was one of the mentors there – so I was really happy.
BECOMING A PERMANENT MEMEBER OF THE FIRST-GRADE PACK IN 1983 – WITH MARIO FENECH, THE RAMPLING BROTHERS, GARY HAMBLY WAS STILL THERE AND THEN LES DAVIDSON CAME THROUGH – IT MUST HAVE BEEN EXCITING TO BE PART OF SUCH A ROUGH AND TOUGH PACK?
We were just mates and we didn’t want to let anybody down. Craig Bellamy’s got a saying: If you work hard, you get lucky. I worked hard and I got lucky and landed in that great club. And I had good coaches. Brian Smith taught me a lot – I played under him at Hull. Les Davidson was one of the toughest players, he had no fear with anyone. We always just had each other’s backs, that was the main thing.
HOW WAS YOUR OFF-SEASON EXPERIENCE WITH HULL, WHERE YOU WERE JOINED BY CRAIG COLEMAN?
We had a great time out there. It was an all-expenses paid trip to the UK and coming home with a bit of pocket money. We had a good bunch over there, Les Davidson and [Steve] ‘Blocker’ Roach were over at Warrington, and we’d have ‘Australia Days’ where we’d catch up with everybody. I made some great friends over in England, I’ve been over there the last six years in a row. I’m just very lucky with sport and the friends and the lifestyle.
SOUTHS WERE REGULAR FINALISTS IN THE 1980s BUT COULDN’T QUITE TAKE THAT NEXT STEP. THE 1989 SEASON MUST HAVE BEEN PARTICULARLY TOUGH, TAKING OUT THE MINOR PREMIERSHIP BUT GOING OUT IN STRAIGHT SETS?
Yeah, it was really tough. I got injured in the [preliminary] final, too, I did an ACL. But the good thing about it was we didn’t die wondering.
IT MUST HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT FOR YOU AS A LONG-SERVING PLAYER TO BE THERE FOR SOUTHS’ RAPID DECLINE, FINISHING LAST IN 1990 AND A LOT OF STARS DEPARTING. WAS THERE A TEMPTATION TO LEAVE?
It’s a game where you had to make the money if you could. I got an offer to go to the Bulldogs but I knocked it back, I was quite happy at Souths. I got on very well with Terry Parker and I was subcontracting there working at the club as well.
YOUR REPRESENTATIVE PEAK WAS BRIEF BUT EVENTFUL, PLAYING IN THE FIRST COUNTRY ORIGIN SIDE AND THEN FOR NSW IN 1987 – SCORING A TRY IN AN EPIC DECIDER AND FEATURING IN THE EXHIBITION ORIGIN MATCH IN CALIFORNIA. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN A CAREER HIGH POINT?
Yeah, again, you work hard to get lucky. I went OK in the City-Country game and then ‘Blocker’ Roach got injured, Ron Willey was the [NSW] coach – he had coached me at Souths – so all the ducks fell in order. It was just a great experience and I was very grateful, and there were some really great players, too.
I only played one year of State of Origin, but they still have the reunions every year and to catch up with people, it’s just great. The Bradley Clydes and the Laurie Daleys and all that, it’s good to be still a part of it. I’ve worked with six clubs [since retiring] and you walk back into any of the clubs and they still remember you, you’re well respected. It’s been a great career and I’m very gifted with what I’ve been able to achieve.
DATE OF BIRTH
31 August, 1959
CURRENT AGE
65
BIRTHPLACE
Narrabri, NSW
POSITION
Prop, second-row
PLAYING HISTORY
1982-91: South Sydney Rabbitohs
1988-89: Hull FC
REP FOOTBALL
1987: Country Origin
1987: NSW
1988: City Firsts
JUNIOR CLUB
Warilla Gorillas
TOTAL MATCHES
194
TRIES | POINTS
11 | 44
