1964 – heritage
A man reads the newspaper every day, sees what’s what, keeps up to date, ASX, weather, synoptic, Realsurf, Swellnet, Daily Gospel, Aquabumps – optimistic hopes that the Murdoch disinformation crew gets screwed as much as they have screwed us. Looks for the next South Sydney match. It’s a routine, though sometimes there’s something in the pages that raises a smile.
Like ….
Is it just me or has Sydney boy Lachlan Murdoch developed a permanent sneer these days and can you blame him? Giving Dad’s money away must hurt plenty, plus he’s putting on some pudding under the belt.
But I digress. Today the SMH ran an article by Catherine Naylor about Byron council’s possible introduction of fines for boardriders who surf without wearing a leg rope and given the atrocious numbers of them infesting what was once a reasonably peaceful point break a man cannot help but agree.
The article rambled on including an account of Matt Cassiday coming to grief … “Her untethered board then shot up out of the wash and ripped into Cassidy’s arm, severing arteries and cutting his bicep in two.”
Ouch!
Then, out of nowhere a pic of the 1964 finalists in the World Champ Comp at Manly in 1964 – and I have to say, I was there and reckon I’ve seen every pic taken by every photographer of that event.
But never this one.
Cabell, Richards, Dooley, Midget, Doyle, Bobby Brown.
petebowes.com 
Hello Pete,
It was a great day, the crowd was estimated to be 60 to 70 thousand. The beach erupted when Midget picked up the last wave.
As for the the finalists- Doyle, Cabell, Dooley, Midget,Brown and Richards.
A little trivia- a well known contributor to your blog told me recently that he was eliminated on the day by the smallest of margins and should have been in the finals !! I will leave it to AC to take his story further with you.
I was told by Tony Rule that Ampol came on board reluctantly as Sponsor, but were stoked when they saw the size of the crowd and support for the Aussie surfers.
Bondi legend Mic Dooley was all class , so smooth,on what was a momentous day in Australian surfing history.
Hi Pete,
Saw my first leggie in about ‘63 when one Ross Kydd (RIP Ross) paddled out in 5 to 8ft stuff behind Newport pool. He’d drilled a hole in the fin of his 10ft log and threaded it with clothesline rope which he slipknotted around his right ankle. We saw him wipe out and later limp painfully up the beach. It was a definite one-off but was it a first?
The first bloke I saw with one was a yank surfer who came to Sydney in about ‘61, and not only did he strap on a leggie at Bondi, he was photographed later wearing white Levis … this was unheard of.
From the left … Joey Cabell, LIttle John Richards, Mick Dooley, Midget, Mike Doyle and Bobby Brown. But you had to be there to know.
Hi Pete – was Kevin Brennan around for that?
Yeah, he paraded himself around on the beach during the heats, big noting himself as usual … don’t think he competed though.