Saturday, February 6, 2010

Eastern Creek Cobras




I'd been badgering Jase about finding us a venue with Milleniums or valleys, but I wasn't holding my breath.

The Lucky teams were locked in as were the teams at the Clock. The Plumpton was still not supporting a league team (what a waste of good tables), the Marayong Brewhouse had ripped out their Milleniums and so it went on.

So I was quite surprised when Jase and D.K. called me to say there were brand new Milleniums going into Eastern Creek - 2, possibly 3, and gave me the green light to try to get a gig there.

I first checked with Pick & TK to get a pulse on whether they were sweet to play out of Eastern Creek as it was furthest for them. They were fine. Pick also pointed out that Eastern Creek still worked with Cobras. So it was time to go and make that happen.

I soon found out that the place was run by 2 brothers. I spoke to Nathan on the phone on the phone but he confirmed that Ralph was the brother I needed to speak with.

We had a good chat on the phone, but Ralph wanted to have a chat in person. He wanted someone to come and clearly explain how it worked and what was required of the pub.

Pick was unavailable, so Pup and I fronted and Ralph was really pleasant and seemed quite interested. I took my league folder and Pup and I did a really good job of selling the league and how it works. We were really clear about registration costs and courtesy food/nibblies for home games. We confirmed that we were happy to chip in for uniforms ourselves and that we would pay the weekly costs etc. so the rego and the food were his only costs.

Ralph said he would need to discuss it with his brother & that as he was away during the week, he would call me on the weekend.

On Friday Pick rang me. He confirmed that he'd already gotten the shirts sorted - actually arrived - for a measly $21 per shirt! So each player only had to chip in $21 for a shirt - much cheaper than what we'd spent on our Cue-Tease uniforms the previous season. The only issue is that we'd gone ahead and put Eastern Creek Cobras on them. If they turned us down, we'd be in strife!

Rather than wait, I dropped into the pub on Saturday afternoon after learning Ralph would be there by checking in with Nathan the night before.

I felt strangely anxious but when Ralph and I finally started chatting, he set my concerns to rest.

He confirmed they had decided they would be going ahead and support our rego as their first team. He expressed some interest in the 2nd team deal and I said we might be able to help find a second team, but Ralph wanted to talk to a couple of locals who bring their own cues in first to see if they wanted to put in a 2nd team, so he said he'd let me know.

I rang Pick to give him the good news & he was rapt! I also rang DK and left a message for Pup, before texting the team.

We were now officially the Eastern Creek Cobras!

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