LITHGOW veteran sporting figure Sandy Davidson had a multi faceted career but there was one chapter in his illustrious CV that eluded him. Until now.
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After 67 years Sandy has finally got his hands on the Blue Bird Cafe Cup, a coveted trophy from our past that was the symbol of district Rugby League supremacy in the 1940s and 50s.
Sandy was a 19-year-old five eighth in the Lithgow St Patrick’s side that won the cup in 1951.
But back then society often played their religious differences as hard and fast as they played football.
“Ï was the only non Catholic in the team and the hard line old parish priest of the time wouldn’t even let me hold the trophy,” Sandy recalled.
Earlier this year the Blue Bird Cup was rediscovered long forgotten in a store room at the Lithgow Mercury office.
The Mercury donated it to the library history collection.
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After publicity regarding the find the history collection curator Kay Shirt learned of Sandy’s missing link and invited him in for a reunion.
In a more enlightened age than existed in 1951 Sandy and the Blue Bird Cup finally got together and at last that slight had been corrected.
It was a special memory for Sandy from a time before he also went on to also gain representative honours in basketball and hockey and to gain the coveted status of ‘local identity’.
