By Matt Findlay

Why do you do it to yourself?

That’s a question lower grade rugby players field constantly, particularly as they show up to work of a Monday battered and bruised or – if it’s serious – sporting moon boots or hobbling around on crutches.

Ahead of his 100th appearance for his beloved Shoremen, a milestone he’ll share with best mate Oscar Doughty, Northern Suburbs stalwart Tommy Evans will happily admit it’s a pretty fair question. It has a simple answer though.

“You do it because you love it,” he said.

“You often hear it – ‘you’re only playing fourths, why do you bother? – but it’s not just about the rugby. It’s about your club, your mates, the supporters, the people you meet. It all comes back to that community.

“I get it though, if you’ve not been a part of that team sport culture or that kind of community then, sure, it’d be tough to justify. But it’s pretty special when you’re a part of it, and you have that support.

“On the field, well, you could be going through the best of times or the worst of times and for those few hours a week it melts away, it makes everything a bit simpler.”

Evans and Doughty have been a part of that culture at Norths for more than a decade, they’ve seen the Shoremen’s different eras too. From when they struggled through to their recent successes.

It’s somewhat incredible too, Evans said, that they’ll celebrate their 100th grade games together.

“I think ‘hipster’ is a pretty good way to describe Oscar – he’s an alternate, inner west lefty – but he was the first bloke I met outside my group of mates at Norths,” the 30-year-old, former club captain said.

“We became really good mates pretty quickly. We both spent a few years overseas separately, although we did have some good times in the US together, and then came back.

“It’s a bit hectic to think 10 years after we met, with all that considered, that we’ll play our 100th games together. It definitely does make it a bit more special.”

What better way to mark the occasion than against their fiercest rivals, Gordon.

“Our most-hated rivals, more like,” Evans laughed.

“With that, the 100th game and Oscar hitting that mark too, you couldn’t really write that script any better. My last game before moving overseas was against Gordon too actually.

“I remember walking to the ground with a tear in the eye, I wasn’t sure when I’d be back but I wasn’t sure what would happen at the club either.

“It would’ve been easy for us to come back and go and play Subbies, or play somewhere else, or not play at all but it was always about more than rugby for us.

“When Cronny (former coach Simon Cron) came in you could see something building and the success the club has had recently, first grade premierships and lower grade grand finals and that kind of thing, has been quite special.”

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Although Evans almost demanded the spotlight be pushed elsewhere, both he and Doughty had a big influence on helping build Norths’ culture to where it is today. All lower graders do, they’re the heartbeat of any strong club.

“Cronny has a word to us and a few others and outlined the role we all had to play as lower graders, yes. It is about more than having a hit out, having a beer and going home,” Evans said.

“Lower graders need to drive the standards too and rally the troops because, really, a rugby club doesn’t owe you shit, no one owes you anything.

“But what you put in you’ll get back 10 fold, that’s why this week has been quite humbling because my phone’s been blowing up and I’ve not really reflected on it all until now.

“It is pretty special, it’s all pretty special. That’s why you do it and that’s why it’s an easy decision to keep doing it.”