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THERE will be an empty place in the Canterbury dressing room this afternoon.
The Bulldogs fear there might be two, and so they wait.
For many years, gear steward Fred Ciraldo picked up Lloyd White and sonSean at their home and drove them to wherever the game was that day. Some days across to Cronulla, others down to Canberra or, like this Saturday, up to Newcastle.
It was their small ritual.
Lloyd died on Tuesday, though. He fought cancer until there was no fight left and went quietly, leaving the Bulldogs to mourn.
He was a mainstay in the Bulldogs dressing room. His job description was the best kind, the kind the Bulldogs value most. He was a former player. A Bulldog for life. He needed no other qualification.
Terry Lamb remembers Lloyd in the dressing room in 1984.
That was Lamb’s first season at Canterbury, not Lloyd’s.
How many years he was there before that is lost in time. He played at the club before he became a changeroom mainstay and that’s near as much as anybody knows.
Sean and Lloyd White with Bulldogs captain James Graham.
They do know he played six first grade games for the club. Four in 1959 and another two, four years later, in 1963. In and around there he played another 108 lower-grade games.
Canterbury is such a club that Lloyd, having paid his dues, was welcome for as long as he wanted to turn up.
When Lloyd’s son Sean was born with Down syndrome, Lloyd began bringing Sean to the dressing rooms as well. Sean has grown up in the changeroom and not a bit of it surprises Lamb. It is the club he knows.
“It’s important to remember where you come from and who you are,” he said.
And although times change the Bulldogs know priorities. What is important and necessary to keep sacred against what needs to evolve.
As dressing room security has tightened and only those with a legitimate reason to be in the dressing room were allowed past, Lloyd remained.
He stayed through many decades, more coaches and countless players, who all learned the importance of Lloyd’s place in the dressing room.
Two years ago Lloyd and Sean were jointly awarded the Bulldogs Employees of the Year.
Not that Lloyd couldn’t change with the times. In those early years he always cracked a beer in the dressing room after a win.
Lloyd White (backrow, right) with the Bulldogs reserves in 1963.
When dressing room cameras became a fixture of modern coverage he made a concession to changing times. He poured his beer into a Gatorade cup and drank it from that.
Other than that, he stayed remarkably consistent. There as much for his boy as the years went on as he was for the club.
The Bulldogs find balance in Sean.
They burst through dressing room doors after a big win and celebrations go nuclear and there is Sean moving through them and wishing they would get out of the way so he could get on with his job of tidying the dressing room. Throwing tape in the bin, sweeping, all the important stuff.
Other times Des Hasler has sat them down after a bad loss and begun surgically tearing strips from them. The dressing room is always quiet, edgy. Plenty look at their feet.
And here comes Sean, sweeping through the middle of them, annoyed they won’t lift their feet, looking to get his job done because that’s what he did.
James Graham remembers a time, after a pained loss, Sean handed him a beer. Graham is a leader, the first to stand and last to fall. He could think of nothing worse this day, which he was still wearing hard, until his eyes panned from the stubby up to Sean, smiling.
“Actually, you know what mate?” Graham said. “Cheers.”
Sean White celebrates the Bulldogs’ 2004 grand final victory.
Lloyd’s funeral is Monday.
The Bulldogs play Newcastle at Hunter Stadium today and they head north unsure if Sean is up to the trip.
“It’s hard for me to know the inner workings there,” Graham said.
“The boys absolutely love Seany, they really do. And even though his dad’s not around any more we hope this goes on forever.”
Of course it will. This is Canterbury, after all.
“Nothing is going to change,” Lamb said. “Everything will stay the same.”
They know part of the responsibility surrendered by Lloyd, with his death Tuesday, now falls to them.
They will care for him and protect him, as much as possible.
“There are a lot of cogs that go into the wheel and without people like him it all breaks down,” Graham said.
Graham is unsure whether Sean will be there today. He understands, with the funeral on Monday and his dad’s death still so fresh that Sean might need some time for himself and he completely understands all of it.
He will look for him, though.
Source
The Bulldogs fear there might be two, and so they wait.
For many years, gear steward Fred Ciraldo picked up Lloyd White and sonSean at their home and drove them to wherever the game was that day. Some days across to Cronulla, others down to Canberra or, like this Saturday, up to Newcastle.
It was their small ritual.
Lloyd died on Tuesday, though. He fought cancer until there was no fight left and went quietly, leaving the Bulldogs to mourn.
He was a mainstay in the Bulldogs dressing room. His job description was the best kind, the kind the Bulldogs value most. He was a former player. A Bulldog for life. He needed no other qualification.
Terry Lamb remembers Lloyd in the dressing room in 1984.
That was Lamb’s first season at Canterbury, not Lloyd’s.
How many years he was there before that is lost in time. He played at the club before he became a changeroom mainstay and that’s near as much as anybody knows.
Sean and Lloyd White with Bulldogs captain James Graham.
They do know he played six first grade games for the club. Four in 1959 and another two, four years later, in 1963. In and around there he played another 108 lower-grade games.
Canterbury is such a club that Lloyd, having paid his dues, was welcome for as long as he wanted to turn up.
When Lloyd’s son Sean was born with Down syndrome, Lloyd began bringing Sean to the dressing rooms as well. Sean has grown up in the changeroom and not a bit of it surprises Lamb. It is the club he knows.
“It’s important to remember where you come from and who you are,” he said.
And although times change the Bulldogs know priorities. What is important and necessary to keep sacred against what needs to evolve.
As dressing room security has tightened and only those with a legitimate reason to be in the dressing room were allowed past, Lloyd remained.
He stayed through many decades, more coaches and countless players, who all learned the importance of Lloyd’s place in the dressing room.
Two years ago Lloyd and Sean were jointly awarded the Bulldogs Employees of the Year.
Not that Lloyd couldn’t change with the times. In those early years he always cracked a beer in the dressing room after a win.
Lloyd White (backrow, right) with the Bulldogs reserves in 1963.
When dressing room cameras became a fixture of modern coverage he made a concession to changing times. He poured his beer into a Gatorade cup and drank it from that.
Other than that, he stayed remarkably consistent. There as much for his boy as the years went on as he was for the club.
The Bulldogs find balance in Sean.
They burst through dressing room doors after a big win and celebrations go nuclear and there is Sean moving through them and wishing they would get out of the way so he could get on with his job of tidying the dressing room. Throwing tape in the bin, sweeping, all the important stuff.
Other times Des Hasler has sat them down after a bad loss and begun surgically tearing strips from them. The dressing room is always quiet, edgy. Plenty look at their feet.
And here comes Sean, sweeping through the middle of them, annoyed they won’t lift their feet, looking to get his job done because that’s what he did.
James Graham remembers a time, after a pained loss, Sean handed him a beer. Graham is a leader, the first to stand and last to fall. He could think of nothing worse this day, which he was still wearing hard, until his eyes panned from the stubby up to Sean, smiling.
“Actually, you know what mate?” Graham said. “Cheers.”
Sean White celebrates the Bulldogs’ 2004 grand final victory.
Lloyd’s funeral is Monday.
The Bulldogs play Newcastle at Hunter Stadium today and they head north unsure if Sean is up to the trip.
“It’s hard for me to know the inner workings there,” Graham said.
“The boys absolutely love Seany, they really do. And even though his dad’s not around any more we hope this goes on forever.”
Of course it will. This is Canterbury, after all.
“Nothing is going to change,” Lamb said. “Everything will stay the same.”
They know part of the responsibility surrendered by Lloyd, with his death Tuesday, now falls to them.
They will care for him and protect him, as much as possible.
“There are a lot of cogs that go into the wheel and without people like him it all breaks down,” Graham said.
Graham is unsure whether Sean will be there today. He understands, with the funeral on Monday and his dad’s death still so fresh that Sean might need some time for himself and he completely understands all of it.
He will look for him, though.
Source
