Basketballers who have represented Bunbury for several decades bow out together at Country Championships

A group of basketballers who have represented Bunbury for several decades bowed together at the sport’s Country Championships earlier this month. Malcolm “Chick” Elson, Graham Jones, Steve Gray, Gary Adlam and Jed Mulder — each of whom have an association with the sport spanning more than 20 years — competed in blue for the final time in Perth over the Labour Day long weekend. Elson is the true veteran of the group, having been involved in the past 52 editions of the Country Championships. Remarkably, the 73-year-old was playing as recently as last year despite battling cancer since 2010. Elson said he was confident continuing to play “helped a hell of a lot” in his fight. “I was told not to play basketball or football, but I never stopped,” he said. “About 18 months after they said stop playing, (Edith Cowan University), they found that exercise is good while you’re having treatment. “The exercise was jumping, which strengthened your bones by 30 per cent and increased the uptake of the treatment by 30 per cent. I was playing basketball, you jump, and football, you run and jump. “It was difficult, because the side effects of every cancer treatment is fatigue and of course I couldn’t play my best basketball or football at all. The boys kept supporting me, that was good.” Elson said some of his fondest memories in basketball came in his early days competing with Capel. “We were young and mad and we could play a bit more than we can now,” he said. “We did pretty well. We started off in some ridiculous low grade, we ended up getting to division 3, which was pretty good for a town like that. “We played hard, on the court and off. It was good.” Jones, who also doubles as the team’s manager and estimated the group had won 15 titles together in masters competitions, said the game “had to be basically taken away from us”. “We knew that once we stopped, that’d be the end of that whole enjoyment era and we weren’t prepared to give it up easily,” he said. “I have two new knees, Jed Mulder’s got two new hips, Steve Gray’s got a new knee coming, we’ve got pacemakers and all sorts of things. “We were at that point where we said ‘we’re actually falling apart, I don’t think we can go again’. “It was just an enjoyable activity for a bunch of guys. Some people do the men’s shed, some play golf, we just got together and played basketball. “It’s been a great journey, but all good things come to an end.” Jones said Elson had served as an inspirational presence, saying it was “particularly important we got Chick up there” for their final go-around. “It was nice to have him there and for all the boys to be back together,” Jones said. “Chick has always been the driver of the group, he organises accommodation and registrations and all the rest of it, we just follow in. “He’s been a great inspiration for us all.” While sure they would all be jealous when next year’s Country Championships roll around, Jones said he was positive the group would not lose their connection. “We’re already looking at what we’re doing in place of it. We’ll figure that out over the course of a few dinners and lunches,” he said.