‘Everyone’s feeling the absence’: Randwick rugby honours the life of Peter ‘Marzo’ Meagher

Before being tragically killed in the Bondi Beach terrorist attack in December, Peter “Marzo” Meagher’s life had been defined by service to the NSW Police and for Randwick Rugby Club. Meagher’s work for others was tireless and time-consuming, but it was always done without ceremony.

On Saturday, before Randwick’s first home game of the Shute Shield season against Eastern Suburbs, it was fitting that Meagher was given a memorial that put him centre stage, with his nickname, Marzo, painted in bold capitals on the field at Coogee Oval.

Three parts of Meagher’s world were represented: family, Randwick Rugby Club and the police. His wife, Virginia, was joined by brothers Greg, Paul and Andrew. The NSW Police band played both Randwick and Eastern Suburbs players onto the field. A large crowd had gathered to fill the ground from early afternoon, with queues outside the gate.

Rugby Australia chief executive Phil Waugh and NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon also joined both teams for a minute’s silence to remember a man who always put others before himself.

After 35 years of distinguished service with the NSW Police, Meagher had enjoyed spending more time on his other passion, photography, and tragically, this had placed him in harm’s way on December 14 at Bondi Beach.

Meagher had been taking photographs of a large Hanukkah gathering for the local Jewish community before he was killed.

The Meagher family have been involved with Randwick Rugby Club for more than 100 years, with Peter first volunteering as a ball boy at Coogee Oval at five years of age.

He went on to referee more than 500 games, spent two decades as team manager for lower grades and the last eight years helping to run the first-grade team at the Galloping Greens.

Former Wallaby and Randwick player Morgan Turinui had watched Meagher do countless unsung and unseen jobs since he was a junior player at the club, but ahead of the first home game of the season, it was clear to everyone just how irreplaceable Marzo was.

“Everyone’s feeling the absence of Marzo and in the lead up to the game, they were still discovering little things that he would do that we just assumed were done somehow,” Turinui said.

“Things we’d never thought of that he’d just do, now people are having to get the jerseys, organise them, put them in lockers, lots and lots of little things that you just take for granted.

“He was volunteering for rugby pretty much every season of his life, he was Randwick rugby royalty, but you wouldn’t have known it. He was very quiet and unassuming; he just got work done, there was never any fuss.”

Everything that Meagher did came with huge effort and dedication, but also was compartmentalised. At Randwick, he was fully focused on ensuring that every player had everything they needed to perform, whether it was spare strapping or a kind word before going on the field.

Throughout his long career in the police as a detective, upcoming rugby games at Randwick were rarely mentioned.

On Saturday, Lanyon and his colleagues were honoured to help bring Meagher’s worlds together, giving them an opportunity to spend time at a place that had meant so much to Meagher, while he had meant even more to them.

“I think as terrible as his funeral was, I think when you listen to some of the actual speeches that were given about Peter, the fact that he always gave himself, he’d always be the last one there, he’d always be cleaning up when others had gone. That’s Peter,” Lanyon said.

“Peter was always understated, always thought about others before himself, and I think that selflessness is exactly the quality that I admire in the police.

“To have a life of service is something that is absolutely worth memorialising.”