Magee secondary marks its centennial with a weekend of reunion events scheduled for May. But for the 1977 boys rugby team, a reunion is nothing new as they’ve gotten together annually for the last 37 years — to cook.
It all started in 1976, when eight members of the team took cooking class during their grad year for an easy mark. They quickly discovered they liked winning “best dish” as much as they liked hammering rival rugby teams.
The eight players spread their love of cooking to their teammates and after graduation the Magee Old Boys Social Gourmet Club was formed. Each year, approximately 14 members of the original team gather to reminisce, play and cook.
Richard Robinson, now a plastic surgeon in Nanaimo, was in the original cooking class and a wing on the rugby team. He recalls the first post-high school dinner events as raucous. Many beverages were consumed and there were occasional fisticuffs, but those days are long gone.
“It has become a lot tamer, more memorable shall we say,” said Robinson, 54.
The event has evolved from the first roast beef dinner somebody’s sister helped make to its present guys’ gourmet weekend.
Each year’s host carries the responsibility for picking the location (the group has travelled throughout B.C. and beyond), planning sporting activities and deciding a theme for the dishes each person has to cook. Past themes have included Mediterranean and French cuisine.
The cooks present their dishes to the host who will decide a “Best Dish” and “Worst Dish” award. The Best Dish award, won most recently by Robinson, is a two-tiered bronze trophy.
The Worst Dish award is a bedpan.
Ian Mackenzie didn’t take the original cooking class but has been going to the events since 1979. He is quick to point out he’s never won the Worst Dish award, a title which carries with it great shame.
He recalls one awful marshmallow surprise dish the host took outside and pressure-washed into the storm drain.
“We had a pretty good idea who was going to win the worst dish that year,” he said.
Mackenzie, a Â鶹´«Ă˝Ół»marketing executive, said the difference in the performance of players on the pitch versus in the kitchen can be surprising.
“You can have the guys who play the toughest positions, you would be completely surprised at what they can create in the kitchen — some really amazing and delicate pastries or some really creative stuff.
Some of the big burly guys you would think would have trouble cutting a banana are pretty gifted in presenting dishes,” said Mackenzie.
“And then there are some guys, you would think could do better.”
The camaraderie of the group is what draws them back year after year. Most have known each other since kindergarten, but Mackenzie gives credit to the game of rugby for solidifying their early friendships.
He said the rough-and-tumble game creates a special bond between players.
Doug Sturrock coached rugby at Magee for 33 years and remembers the group well. He described the game as “14 guys on the field helping the 15th, more than any other sport.”
“It has nothing to do with whether they win or not, it is that they are not going to let their friends down,” said Sturrock.
The 1976-77 club was one of the best of Sturrock’s career. He recalls only one loss over their Grade 11 and 12 seasons.
The team finished tied with Prince of Wales secondary for the top prize for B.C. high school senior boys rugby at the time: the New Zealand Shield.
Sturrock said he looks forward to seeing the team members at the centennial.
No word yet on if they will cook.
For information on the centennial celebration, go to .
