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Sydney Roosters and Parramatta Eels unveil Chad Robinson Cup

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  • Sydney Roosters and Parramatta Eels unveil Chad Robinson Cup


    From news.com.au:
    (
    http://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/syd...9cc425c9baa406)

    IN a heartwarming gesture, players in Sunday’s under-20s match between the Sydney Roosters and Parramatta will, for the first time, contest the Chad Robinson Cup.

    Two of Robinson’s former teammates, Sydney Roosters legend Anthony Minichiello and Parramatta stalwart Luke Burt, proudly unveiled the new silverware.
    Robinson, who played 159 NRL matches during stints at the Eels and Roosters, was reported missing last November before being found dead in his car on December 22. He had been suffering from depression. There were no suspicious circumstances.
    “It was so sad for Chad’s family and everyone involved,” Minichiello said. “It was something I didn’t know was that serious with Chad. It is a big problem in society these days. Especially with men, they tend to keep things in and think it’s a weakness but there are great programs out there — and the NRL is also helping — to try and get rid of that stigma.
    “Chad was a great player, someone you wanted in your side because he was such a great defender and cleaned up a lot of things commentators didn’t see. Chadwas with us in the early 2000s when we won the premiership in 2002. We didn’t have an inkling of it (depression).”
    Minichiello is pleased Robinson’s name will live on through the Cup.
    “He played a lot of games for Parramatta and the same with us,’’ he said. “It’s only fitting we organise a cup in his name.”
    Robinson’s shock death broke rugby league’s heart. He was a 36-year-old father of two who was universally liked and respected.
    “I grew up playing with and against Chad and was quite close to his family,” said Burt, the Eels’ under-20s coach. “It was sad and shocking to see. You look back on it now and wish he talked about it and sought help.”

    The NRL game on Sunday will be for the Jack Gibson Cup, which is named after the super coach who led both clubs to premierships in the 1970s and 1980s.
    With the NYC to be scrapped next year, officials will consider awarding the Chad Robinson Cup to the man of the match in Roosters-Parramatta games. The Jack Gibson Cup was introduced in 2008, the year Gibson passed away.

  • #2
    Nice idea.

    Comment


    • #3
      Very nice heartbreaking gesture. We saw Chad's funeral procession at Rookwood as we were there for one of our own family members' funeral that day. Very dark day all around I'd say..January 10 2017 in 40 degree heat. We share a lot of big name champions with Parramatta and they always seem to be co-operative and respectful of this. I'm looking forward to Sunday even though it will be sad for many reasons for some families.
      "Be good enough to forgive people but don't be stupid enough to trust them again."

      Comment


      • #4
        Dig deep if they pass the hat around. Foresake a beer or hotdog
        Written and published on behalf of the Liberal Party, Queensland

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by redwhiteblue View Post
          Very nice heartbreaking gesture. We saw Chad's funeral procession at Rookwood as we were there for one of our own family members' funeral that day. Very dark day all around I'd say..January 10 2017 in 40 degree heat. We share a lot of big name champions with Parramatta and they always seem to be co-operative and respectful of this. I'm looking forward to Sunday even though it will be sad for many reasons for some families.
          Well said RWB.

          Comment


          • #6
            Classy by both clubs for a loyal servant.
            SUPER DRAGON!

            Comment


            • #7
              Our game needs more of this sort of stuff. While a great idea, it's just a shame we can't play the firsts under that veil.
              FVCK CANCER

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              • #8
                Originally posted by rented tracksuit View Post
                Our game needs more of this sort of stuff. While a great idea, it's just a shame we can't play the firsts under that veil.
                Agree.

                Maybe it is thought it would clash with the Jack Gibson Cup in first grade.

                Last edited by bondi-boy; 05-12-2017, 08:27 AM.

                Comment


                • #9




                  Brother of former Eels and Roosters forward Chad Robinson opens up about losing him to suicide


                  Sometimes Tim Robinson forgets. A silver Subaru drives past and, suddenly, his heart sinks. The hope comes rushing back. "We found him," he can't help but think.
                  But the realisation that he will never see his big brother again soon kicks in.
                  Former Roosters and Eels forward Chad Robinson took his own life in November, 2016. Photo: Getty Images "Still to this day when I see a silver Subaru in the corner of my eye, I get excited," he says choking back tears.
                  "It's hard to accept he's not coming home. I used to call him on my way home from footy training. First training session back this year, I got in the car and pressed his number. That was the moment it sunk in. He was gone."
                  Family man: Chad Robinson with his children Kiara and Cooper. Chad Robinson, a former Roosters and Parramatta forward, tragically took his own life in November last year at the age of 36.
                  But it wasn't until almost a month later, following a state-wide search involving friends and family, that his body was discovered in the wreckage of his car just seven kilometres from home.
                  Stashed away in a cupboard inside Chad Robinson's Kellyville residence, Christmas presents he had left for his two children waited to be wrapped.
                  "That's Chad for you," Tim says beaming with pride.
                  Hopes dashed: Tim Robinson with his wife Casey. Photo: Steven Siewert "His kids meant everything to him. The hardest thing for them is that he won't be there for birthdays, graduations and their weddings."
                  Sadly, Chad never got the chance to give the presents to Kiara, 15, and Cooper, 10. Nor will he get the chance to meet the newest member of the Robinson family, due next month.
                  Protector: Chad with his little brother Tim. Through the pain and grief, as they held out hope for Chad's return, Tim and his wife Casey found out she was pregnant.
                  "Not being able to tell Chad, that hurts me," Tim, 29, says.
                  "We had forgotten that Casey was even pregnant because all we were focused on was trying to find him. But it's been the light through all the darkness. It's given our family something to smile about.
                  "I dare say it will be a tough day when I sit down and talk to my kids about him. But he will live on through them. He's never not going to be part of our family. He's living through his kids, too. They are just like him."
                  On Sunday afternoon, his family and friends will gather to watch Chad's two former clubs do battle at Allianz Stadium, with the under-20s to play for a trophy named in his honour.
                  Sport divides. But it unites like no other.
                  Chad's sister and mother knew all about the struggle he was going through, but he never burdened his little brother – who followed his footsteps into the NRL – with his problems.
                  "He was my protector," Tim says.
                  "He was my idol. He was my hero. He was everything I aspired to be. I idolised everything he did when I was younger. Chad was on a roller-coaster ride, but I didn't know it was to the low point we found out.
                  "You get a few inklings six or 12 months prior, but you don't really think he's going to go through with it. With him, you could tell when he was going through a low point, but he always told me he was OK."
                  The night before Chad's disappearance, his daughter called the ambulance fearing for her father's safety.
                  He was taken to Blacktown Hospital looking for help. It just never came.
                  "He tried to get help the night before he went missing, but he got turned away," Tim says. "He sat there in emergency for four or five hours. They called my sister at 4am to say we can't help him unless he is actually going to harm himself."
                  Despite a request from his sister Monique Brennan to keep Chad in hospital until she arrived, her brother checked himself out.
                  Later that night, at about 7pm on November 26, 2016, she unknowingly spoke to her brother on the phone for the last time.
                  "He turned his phone off," Tim says. "That was the last time anyone heard from him."
                  And so the month-long search began. Tim purchased a street directory and began highlighting every route family and friends travelled in search of his missing brother. There were several reported sightings.
                  "They even found beer bottles of his favourite drink in Kurrajong," Tim says.
                  Shellharbour, Tamworth, Byron Bay: the family received numerous tips about potential sightings.
                  "Your stomach would churn over every time you heard there was a sighting," Tim says. "You can't help but think he's still alive.
                  "Mark Riddell [former teammate] drove everywhere for about three or four days. He didn't stop. That makes me proud. Just to know how much he was respected by other people. It brings a tear to my eye knowing that he touched so many people, who took time out of their lives trying to help find him or lend their support to our family."
                  But the search was in vain, as they found out when electricity workers discovered Chad's body at the bottom of a gorge in Kenthurst next to a piece of real estate he had gone to view only a month before his death.
                  "You start to think, 'did he plan this?'" Tim recalls.
                  "'Did he know where he was going to go?'"
                  Chad struggled to cope with life after football, which is why his sister is working to educate retiring players and help them make the adjustment to life without the game.
                  Her brother battled a mental illness for some time. He saw a psychologist and even spent time in rehab, but the toll of dealing with his retirement from the NRL ate away at him.
                  "He missed the adrenalin rush of it all," Tim says.
                  "That's a big thing. He loved the game inside the game. The social life part of it, the mateship – and I think the big thing was the routine of being a rugby league player. Once it was all done, he was a bit lost."
                  Tim, who also played in the NRL with Manly and Cronulla, never got the chance to play alongside his brother.
                  The closest he got was being 18th man at the Eels for a round 26 match against the Warriors in 2008. His family still has the Big League program with both their names on the Eels team sheet as a reminder of how close they came to taking the field together.
                  Tim went on to make his debut with Manly against the Roosters a couple years later, ignoring the advice his brother had passed down.
                  "He was there that day," Tim remembers vividly.
                  "I can still hear his words. He said: 'when you get out there, don't try and do everything. Don't try and make a thousand tackles. Don't try and make a thousand runs or you'll blow out in five minutes'.
                  "So, stupid me, I went out there and made five tackles in the first set, took two hit-ups then put my hand up and said 'I'm gone'. After the game he came up to me and said: 'what did I bloody tell you?'"
                  Most will remember him as Chad Robinson the footballer. But there was a side to him not even his family knew until his passing last year.
                  His family discovered that he had reached out, through the Hills District Dads website, and saved the lives of others who had suicidal thoughts and were battling depression.
                  That's the sort of person he was – putting others before himself.
                  "I'll remember him as the family man," Tim says.
                  "He was the one everyone went to for advice. If anyone had an issue, he was the one that helped in any way. He did that with everyone, no matter who it was. For me, I'll remember him as a person who was always there for his family."

                  Lifeline 13 11 14
                  Beyondblue 1300 22 4636
                  Mens Help Line 1300 78 99 78

                  To donate to the Kiara and Cooper Robinson Educational Fund visit gofundme.com/hdd-robbo-family-fundraiser


                  Last edited by redwhiteblue; 05-14-2017, 10:10 PM.
                  "Be good enough to forgive people but don't be stupid enough to trust them again."

                  Comment

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