it is funny the people you meet over the years who you admire at a distance and then suddenly somehow fortuitously, you either meet them or their partners.
Early on in my role in parole one of the secretaries at Bankstown was Keith Page's wife (many would not know Keith. He was a respected first grade referee during the 60s and 70s). Then through a fellow female worker, I ended up meeting her partner at a dinner. He was Rod Jackson. A fellow parole officer I met at Newcastle turned out to be Dennis Ward. I then worked in later years with the wife of Eric Simms. And during my involvement at the Public Service Association low and behold I met a fellow unionists, Mal Cochrane and Darrell Williams. And at one stage I was involved on the other side of the spectrum with John Elias (but I wont go into how). Quite a thrill to meet these people, many of whom I admired over the years in the game, and getting to hear their recollections in the game. All were nice people, and John Elias is as wacky as he was on the TV footy shows. One of the things I treasure in remembering my 70 years of life.