Mark Keaton, who was born with cerebral palsy, had a dream: to play for his beloved Wests Tigers.
A tremendous community volunteer who is proud to call Campbelltown home, he had to bide his time, but two years ago he got the call from the club.
Keaton, who is now 41 years of age, was invited to play for the Wests Tigers Physical Disability Rugby League (NRL PDL) team.
“I was buggered after that first game,’’ he says of his debut as a centre.
There are four clubs with PDL sides, South Sydney, Sydney Roosters, Newtown Jets and of course Mark’s mighty Wests Tigers. They play each other twice as part of the annual NRL PDL competition.
“It was a dream come true,’’ he says now.
“I just love playing for this Wests Tigers team.’’
But the Mark Keaton dream became even sweeter this year, because when the selectors named the rep sides for the annual PDL City-Country clash, his name was in there.
In fact he was the only PDL player selected from Campbelltown and the Macarthur area.
Country narrowly lost the match, played earlier this month, but that’s not important now, says Mark Keaton.
“I was honoured to be selected and play in such a game,’’ he tells the South West Voice in Macarthur.
Keaton, who is married with one daughter, has one or two dreams still left in the locker.
He obviously wants the Wests Tigers NRL side to make the finals and go on and win another title to add to the trophy they won in ‘05.
But on a more personal level he would love to see his club PDL side play a competition game during an NRL home game in Campbelltown.
“That would be enormous, to play here in Campbelltown,’’ he says.
And there’s one more dream: get the NRL to play the annual rep game between City and Country at Campbelltown Sports Stadium.
“Now that would be massive, for me, the team and Campbelltown,’’ he says.
Keaton is on the committee for the 24 Hour Fight Against Cancer charity, whose chair is Warren Morrison.
“I love Mark’s passion and as a community person, so I’d like to see his next dream come true,’’ says Morrison, who is also a big Wests Tigers fan.
“I’m on a mission to support and help Mark get his wish.’’
