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Bali memories remain for Asia's expat rugby players

Members of an Australian sports team that lost some of its players in last year's bombings arrive in Bali yesterday. Survivors and relatives of the bombing victims have started to arrive in Bali to attend the commemorative ceremonies tomorrow to mark the first anniversary of the attacks that killed more than 200 people. PHOTO: REUTERS

Asia's tight-knit community of rugby-playing expats still bears the scars of their group holiday when a break from the stress of professional life ended in tragedy on the sun-kissed island of Bali.

Teams from across the region had converged on the Indonesian island last year for an annual highlight to their sporting calendar; a chance to play rugby, meet old friends and let off steam at an international tournament.

But the fun stopped on Oct. 12 when bombs planted by Islamic extremists tore through two nightclubs. Of the 202 people who died that night, 27 were rugby players or supporters.

"It is going to take a long time for the wounds to heal from Bali," said Donough Foley, a member of the Hong Kong Football Club (HKFC), which lost nine players in the blasts. "The first anniversary is going to be hard."

Few who play rugby in the former British colony went untouched by the tragedy. Young victims like Britons Nathaniel Miller, Peter Record, Edward Waller, Stephen Spiers and American Jake Young were popular club figures.

"Those guys were there one minute and they were gone the next. They had a lot of years' combined experience in playing rugby and they were great characters both on and off the field," Foley said.

For those who survived the attack, the events of Oct. 12 will be even harder to forget.

Peter Chworowsky, president of the Taipei Baboons rugby club, which lost five players and one fan, still recalls the deafening explosion, the thick smoke and the panic to escape Bali's Sari club after the bombs detonated.

"I was sitting down for a drink after dinner, when the bombs went off. It was chaos. I was trapped under debris with people trampling over me to get out of the club," Chworowsky said.

"Eventually, I got out, I was stunned but OK, but then we had to figure out who was missing and begin trying to find them," he said.

The task would take weeks, with dazed survivors airlifted to hospitals in other parts of Indonesia and Australia. Chworowsky was among those who stayed on in Bali to help relatives track down loved ones, many of them already dead.

One year on from the attacks, for which 34 suspects have been arrested and three men sentenced to death, many of the surviving players last week returned to Bali to once again play rugby, remember the dead and to tackle the future.

"It was a terrible event, but we can take some postivity from it," said Chworowsky, who led the toast to absent friends and teammates following Sunday's tournament final.

"It brought those of us who survived it closer together and it made the club much stronger."

Added Foley: "A week after the attacks, we pushed forward and played on. That's what the boys would have wanted.

"Today, although those who lost their lives in Bali can never be replaced, we still have a strong club."
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