Not long ago our club had the opportunity to sit down with former Wests Magpies player Stephen 'Steve' Broughton. Steve spoke to us about his memories playing with the club, how he came to support Wests, and what life after football looked like.
I was always a Wests supporter. I came from a little country town called Mendooran and the school was the Magpies. So they [the school] were black and white and obviously when I came down to Sydney it was the Magpies. My uncle went for Wests. When I came down to boarding school here he'd pick me up on a Saturday or Sunday, mainly Sunday obviously, and say 'We're going to go watch a game of football, if you're not going for Wests you're not coming'. So that's why I was always a Wests supporter.
Very good, Roy taught me a lot. I think '81 we won the Reserve Grade Grand Final and from '82 I was sort of a First Grader. I was very lucky - I had a lot of good coaches. Laurie Freier was Reserve Grade coach whilst I was there and then went on to coach First Grade. Warren Ryan coached me in Third Grade [and] went on to coach First Grade. So I had some very good coaches.
I was very lucky, I played with lots of great players. Terry Lamb and Garry Jack learned their craft at Wests and went to other clubs and made a name for themselves. Tom Raudonikis was so inspirational to play with and the hardest man in league history. John 'Dallas' Donnelly was a big man with a big heart - great bloke.
Sporting wise I played touch football until I was sixty. I enjoyed that, I played touch football while I was playing at Wests. I had a concrete truck for forty odd years.
One thing with Wests is that everyone's equal. Doesn't matter if you played 10 First Grade games or sat on the bench for Reserve Grade or played 200 First Grade games. If you played for Wests you're a Western Suburbs man, no matter whether you were a strapper or a coach, which is really good.
