Brumbies players free to go out on the town
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http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news...px?storypage=0
The ACT Brumbies players are free to go out in Durban after their game against the Sharks tomorrow morning, two years after Shawn Mackay was hit by a car outside a nightclub.
Brumbies coach Tony Rea says the team has not been given a curfew, nor has it been told to remain in the hotel for its last night in South Africa before returning to Canberra.
Mackay was out with teammates at a Durban nightclub to celebrate Adam Ashley-Cooper's birthday after the Brumbies loss to the Sharks in 2009.
When leaving the nightclub to return to the team hotel, Mackay was hit by a car at 4.15am. He suffered major head and leg injuries and died in hospital a week later.
This week is the first time the Brumbies have been back to Durban since Mackay's death.
But Rea has chosen not to impose any post-match extra curricular activities and will let his players decide if they want to go out after their round 12 match at Kings Park.
''There's not a big drinking culture or anything like that in the Brumbies,'' Rea said.
''[What happened to Mackay] was a mistake, it was an individual's mistake at the time.
''It definitely goes through your mind a fair bit. It happened then, but it doesn't mean it's going to happen again.
''It doesn't correlate in my head that you should be worrying about it happening again. If you did that you would never go again.''
Rea is the only member of the coaching staff who was with the team when Mackay died.
He said he had no problem if players decided to go out and enjoy themselves before returning to Australia. But he said Mackay's accident had not been formally discussed within the group in the lead up to the game against the Sharks.
''Naturally you think about everything that went on,'' Rea said. ''But it's all positive memories in a weird way. You remember all the good things. I remember the extras Macca was doing at training the day before the game because he was so excited that he was playing.
''So you sort of draw on that, draw on the strengths.''
The players went on a self-imposed drinking ban in the weeks that followed Mackay's death, but there were no strict post-game celebration guidelines.
None of the Brumbies returned to the nightspot where Mackay was hit by the car.
For them, the memories are too painful. Mackay's childhood friend Patrick Phibbs still doesn't like to talk about what he saw that night. He was nervous returning to the place where he last saw his Waverly College schoolmate alive.
''It [playing in Durban] will be a special moment. It's definitely a game I'm very excited about and I just want to get out and play,'' Phibbs said.
''This is the place where I last stepped on the field with Macca.
''I think the emotions will kick in when we're at the ground.
''Come game time and we're back in the stadium warming up, that's when everything will be running through my mind again, it will be tough.''
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Originally Posted by Rex Messup
.... you know I'm thinking of sending the Brumbies my bill for Fox iQ...
