Vale Neil Rogers

Vale Neil Rogers

Sadly we lost the wonderful and larger than life Neil Rogers to cancer yesterday. We were at the pool when the news came through. An immediate cloak of sadness draped over us all. He was upbeat and ever present. It’s hard to believe such a big personality is gone.

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We interviewed Neil in 2015. See below.

Neil is a local legend. His squad happens a little too early for us these days, but back when he was manning the entrance to the pool, Remo used to relish his daily 20 second doses of wisdom from ‘Coach’ Neil.

Tell us a little bit about the Neil Rogers story.

I’m one of 3 boys. I went to Coogee Prep at Randwick and Randwick Boys High.

As a young boy Dad was president of the local surf club and he started the Clovelly Eskimos and I think the late 50s when I was a young boy. I started swimming down at Clovelly with a guy called Tom Caddy. Tom was a lovely man and I think he taught half the eastern suburbs how to swim. And being the youngest of 3 brothers, I always wanted to follow what they did. I think I was the youngest he taught to swim at 3. So I’ve always had swimming and wanted to do it. So then I was told I was a good little athlete and I always followed swimming. I’d win local carnivals and stuff like that. Then John Konrads, a famous swimmer, who won the Olympic 1500 m in Rome, started coaching up at Sep Prosser’s Pool in Woollahra. And I think I was about 10 or 11 at the time. I went up there and started to swim seriously – squad and technique and stuff. Anyway, I started placing in state championships. My other 2 brothers always swam at the surf club in Clovelly. And they started to swim with me as well. There’s 6 years between Greg, Ron and myself. We all started swimming and I was lucky enough to make the Commonwealth Games [Edinburgh] when I was at school when I was 16. And that started my career in swimming.

Were your brothers as accomplished as you?

My elder brother Greg got a silver and bronze medal in the relay in Mexico in the Olympics and my other brother Ron, who is deceased now, won an Australian Surf Belt championship. So the whole family swum. I’ve had a history of swimming.

I was lucky enough to go to the Olympics in Munich in 1972 and made the final of the 100m butterfly. There was no Australian Institute of Sport then so if you wanted to be an athlete you had to go to America so I went to college over in Wisconsin and then I went to the Montreal Olympics. I made the final of the 100m butterfly there. And I won the gold in the Commonwealth Games in between in Christchurch, so I’ve always been doing swimming competitively.

Then I got married. Then I got married again. I’ve got 2 girls who grew up in the Eastern Suburb swimming. They used to swim competitively at school level. They went through the North Bondi Nippers programme. And when I was coming down here and swimming in the Icebergs races they used to come and watch me race.

Now, when the [Icebergs] club got redeveloped in 2000, I used to manage the pool for the club but I just do the coaching here now. I have squad 4 or 5 mornings a week. What’s happened now though, in the last 8 to 10 years, there’s been a huge interest in ocean swims. From next month until March or April there’s 2 or 3 big ocean swims a week. Up and down the coast. You would have seen the ones here in Bondi. They get 2,000 people in each race. It’s done under the auspices of the Surf Life Saving Clubs, so it’s a good fundraiser for them and they look after the safety. One of the bigger ones coming up is a great race, it’s the Bondi to Bronte swim. That’s on the first Sunday in December.

I coach my squads down here, the adults and some teenagers. I don’t coach at the elite level anymore and I enjoy it much more.  Great people, great friends. It’s wonderful. We get it done at 6 o’clock in the morning. People think we’re crazy but we do it all year round. Winter time is nearly as busy as the summer. I’m blessed – I’m doing something that I really enjoy doing. I’m down here in Bondi so things are going really well.

Do you live in the area?

I live in Bronte. I used to live in Bondi. Now I’m about 5 minutes away.

Is there anything you like (or dislike) about Bondi?

I love everything about Bondi. Driving through last night I was thinking about the fact that you can come here at 5 o’clock in the morning and you can’t get a park. In this period you’ve got Sculptures on. So that brings a whole lot of new people to Bondi. And then you’ve got all the cafes and – they’re good, they’re all good now. And I used to have a coffee shop in Bondi. Over where Oportos is now. Right on the beachfront. I used to sell quiches, juices and coffees. It was great, I loved it! Rents were a lot different then. So I understand what they’re going through. But also you’ve got Maurice’s [Icebergs Dining Room and Bar] upstairs. He’s given Bondi a culinary edge on just about everywhere else. The Hall Street development is great. You’ve got people who have been here since the 60s, 70s, 80s … or people who have recently moved in but they embrace Bondi. As I said, if you come at 5am, you can’t get a park. Then you’ve got a whole new set during the day, then you’ve got the tourists and backpackers who come down and they enhance the place. It gives a whole new culture and view on other ways of life. You’ve got the sauna down here at the pool – it’s like the UN! It’s fantastic. And we’re lucky, we’ve got this magnificent pool. Whoever built this should be monumented. It puts up with all weather conditions all year round. It’s maintained by the club and Surf Life Saving Australia are moving back into the building so there’s plenty happening here in Bondi.

We’re at the Crabbe Hole …

Andy Crabbe who runs the café here, he was told when he started up that he wouldn’t make a go of it in the winter, but he’s going all year round. It can be fairly bleak during winter, but you get a good coffee – if you give good service you’re going to be OK.

Where else might we find you?

I’m a part time senior wine broker at Langtons so I do get to sample the very best of what the country gets to offer. I do that 3 nights a week when I’m not coaching. Bondi – I like A Tavola, I like that little section in Hall Street. There’s Harris Farm [Markets] down there where you get the very best produce. Bondi now seems to have embraced it. There’s some BYOs down there. If you can’t get fed in Bondi you can’t get fed anywhere. If you want your rib fix you go to Hurricanes. I’m a bit of a meat eater! I can have my share of quinoa and kale but that’s about it. We’re blessed and it’s survival of the fittest, it’s very competitive. If they don’t aim up they won’t survive. I think what’s happened too, is we used to lack good service but now with Europeans coming and staying here they’ve shown us how it really works.

Is there anything you’re excited about at the moment?

Yes, both my daughters are having babies next year. First for both of them. That’s on a personal level. Bondi everyday is like a yoga class for me when I come down here at 6. It’s my community. Andre who owns the gym is a personal friend, Chuckie [Pool Manager] and I have been swimming together since we were kids. Sean and all the guys on the Bondi Icebergs Club, we’ve all got a certain camaraderie, we race together. Your husband Remo I’ve known since his first coffee shop over there in Darlinghurst. We’ve been through all the trials and tribulations! And I say he’s the first man to invent the Splayd. No-one knew about the Splayd before he brought them in.

He [Remo] loves a Splayd …

We love his Splayd. All these characters add up to what we do down here. You say hello to someone down here – I don’t know everyone in Bondi but I know a lot of them – it’s a good feeling which makes you feel like home.

Do you have a motto for life?

Well I have had some very great highs through sport and the people I’ve been able to meet through what I do. The glass is always ½ or ¾ full for me. But I have known some friends who have been very depressed and have had some sad reasons to be depressed. It’s an old saying but “you’ve got to live every day as an adventure” – you’ve got to want to get up and do something. I’ve got every reason to look forward and I’ve got a lot of good friends. Maintain a pretty good standard of health – you’ve also got to enjoy good food and wines but here we’ve got every opportunity… like this walk from here to Maroubra now. It’s one of the best in the world! Do it at a good pace, do it at a bad pace. You’ve got fitness regimes, personal trainers down here. There’s the massage and the sauna down here. So even if you don’t want to worry about heart rates and go on like the elite guys do you’ve got everything to keep you going. Even in winter you can swim all year round. It gets to maybe 14 or 15 degrees but if you swim regularly that’s great. There’s nothing better than getting out of that cold water.

Yes, it makes those showers feel steaming hot!

Every day’s a bonus.