LIFE & STYLE
league of her own
of my many tasks was having a koala on my shoulder and greeting tourists – most of them from overseas – as they alighted from their buses .” Kylie said .
“ It was a great way to greet our guests , after which they were quickly hustled over to a spot where we had five photographers set up to take snaps of each of them cuddling a koala .
“ Well , as soon as they had their photo taken , many of them would just throw the koala to the next in line .
“ The koalas bore the handling with patience and no animal or human was injured during that segment of their visit !”
Question answered - yep , koalas can bear plenty !
Kylie was asked about her involvement in Family of League .
“ Of course , I had always been a rugby league fan , even more so after becoming involved with Col after meeting him at Jupiter ’ s Nightclub in Richmond in 1994 ,” Kylie said .
“ I had been working there as a part-time barmaid and noticed this very handsome man drinking with a few mates .”
Kylie ’ s concentration waivered as she reminisced .
“ Ground control to Major Kylie ,” I laughed .
“ Sorry ‘ bout that ,” she smiled . “ Well , he came over to order drinks , we got talking , exchanged ‘ phone numbers and , well , fell in love and have been together ever since .”
The couple married in August , 2002 and are the proud parents of `Mavrick , who this past season was chuffed to be coached by his father in the hot-shot Windsor Wolves Under 19s .
Kylie ’ s first step towards her involvement with Family of League is a sad tale .
“ Our next-door neighbours were involved in a car accident in 2012 ,” Kylie said .
“ Maddy Garay , survived the accident but was severely injured however her sister and grandmother passed away .
“ A group of us decided to organise a fundraising function at Castle Hill RSL for Maddy and out of the blue we
Kylie Murphy applies a bear hug to one of Australia ’ s Wonderland koalas . One of her many tasks during her tenure at the venue was to greet visitors , hugging one of Australia ’ s most beloved animals . received a phone call from Ken Vessey , a committeeman with the foundation ’ s Northern Sydney branch ,” Kylie said .
“ Ken said that Family of League would only be too happy to provide us with sporting memorabilia or whatever to auction at the fundraiser and of course we gladly accepted his kind offer .
“ Ken and I kept in touch over the new few years and in 2016 another friend had fallen on hard times and that was when my husband , Col and I met Darren Stevens and Garry O ’ Donnell from the Western Sydney Family of League Committee .
“ So impressed were we by what the foundation was achieving , we decided to join them as proud members .”
And folks , lemme tell ya , the rugby league community is a better place for it .
Finally . I asked Kylie her interests apart from work and the foundation .
“ Well , that ’ s easy – the three Fs ,” she said . “ Whoa , hold up , “ I retorted . “ No , that ’ s not one of them ,” Kylie laughed . “ It is footy , family and friends .” Whew !
CSIMARCONI
81 South Street , Schofields NSW 2762 Ph 02 9627 4435 www . csimarconi . com . au
SUBSCRIBE NOW
Email us today @ info @ hdinews . com . au
Put SUBSCRIBE in the subject line and we will add you to our digital mail out list !
TO OUR DIGITAL EDITION
Links to our online editions plus news , giveaways and more !
BLACKTOWN CITY INDEPENDENT theindependentmagazine . com . au MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY HOLIDAYS ! ISSUE 33 // NOVEMBER 2023 13