 It was one of the most infamous incidents in Sydney rugby league and it took place on a chilly winter's afternoon nearly 63 years ago, but former St George prop Bill Frendin's memories of the Henson Park ear-biting incident are clear.
"I played second grade for St George that day at Henson Park and I was on the sideline for first-grade when it happened," recalls Bill, who celebrated his 90th birthday in January.
The "it" Bill refers to was an incident in which St George player Bill McRitchie complained to the referee that an opposing Newtown player had bitten off part of his ear.
He accused Newtown captain Frank "Bumper" Farrell, who vehemently denied the allegation - sparking one of the game's great controversies.
Farrell, who said he wasn't even wearing his false teeth at the time of the incident, denied the accusation for the rest of his life and no charge was ever proved against him. But Bill
Frendin, who came off the reserves bench that day, July 28, 1945, to replace the bleeding McRitchie (who spent the next 22 weeks in hospital), says there was an interesting aside to
the story which has been all but forgotten over time.
"We were in the sheds at half-time and we could hear the Newtown boys blowing up in there at each other through the wall," Bill says. "We found out later that it was (Newtown player) Herb Narvo getting stuck into Bumper Farrell. They ended up coming to blows because Narvo was furious about what had happened to McRitchie. Narvo ended up joining us at St George the next year."
He remembers another notorious match that season when the Dragons were playing Souths at the SCG and the crowd tore down the fence.
His playing days earned him enough money to buy a block of land in Walter St, Mortdale, but by 1946, Bill Frendin's short rugby league career was over. Instead, he started out in a long
and successful career with the Police Force which ultimately took him to the position of Senior Inspector at Wagga Wagga by his retirement in 1978. He also spent a number of tough
years in the consorting squad.
Bill, whose playing weight was a touch over 90kg in the modern weight, says his fondest memories of his playing days were with St George third grade in 1942, when a team featuring a future NSW Police Commissioner, Cec Abbott, starred at fullback.
"That year, the third grade team was capable of beating our first grade team," Bill says.
Now living at Roberts Lodge at Peakhurst, Bill recently celebrated his 90th at the Penshurst Hotel with 20 friends and family.
"I don't drink, so I stuck to the lolly water," Bill says. His son, Phil, now living in Leeton, says his dad is "still pretty sharp".
Bill is in good health apart from a "crook leg" that slows him down a bit and he still follows the Dragons' fortunes on TV.
"They need someone to back Mark Gasnier up. He isn't as good as his uncle Reg, but he is quick off the mark, he has acceleration from the start, but he needs some help out there.
"The game is a lot faster, the forwards play like backs now, out amongst the ball playing. When I was a prop, you stayed there, you stayed away from the backs out wide."
Looking back over a happy life that also included playing first grade cricket with North Sydney and years of happy golf rounds with his police mates at Bexley Golf Club, Bill says his life motto has always been: "Never take a backward step."
"And I didn't, you know," he asserts.
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