Bali Bombings: Kingsley Football Club survivors pull together to mark 20th anniversary of terrorist attacks

Bali bombing survivors from the Kingsley Football Club are gathering for a photo. One of them, Brad “Rooster” Phillips, is keen to have his son in it. Ashton’s 15 and he’s about to join his dad and the others in a legends game put on by the club at its northern suburbs ground to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack that took the lives of seven of the 20 Kingsley boys on their end-of-season trip. “It’s the first time I get to play with my son,” Phillips said. And poignantly Ashton is “old enough to get to know a bit more about what happened” at the Sari Club on that dark night. How his father lost his “best mate” Jason Stokes, who’d invited Phillips to play at the Kingsley Cats in 2002. And how in a sign of the ripple effect of the horrific attack, the number of Kingsley victims has grown to nine with the death in the past two years of Laurie Kerr and Adam Nimmo. “I want to mention one of the boys,” Phillips said ahead of Friday night’s game. “Adam Nimmo. Me and him got really close after Bali and he passed away this year. “So I’ve lost two best mates either side of Bali.” Phillips’ boys — he also has 10-year-old son Lucas — are his life now. He was proud to be attending the 20th anniversary Bali memorial service in Canberra on October 12 with Ashton. Others set their sights on Wednesday’s annual sunrise commemoration at Kings Park. Phillips’ clubmate Duane Pearce, who “did cray boats for a while” after the Bali tragedy and is now a mining scaffolder, said the 20 years had “gone pretty quick”. “This year is going to be real hard because we lost Nimmo,” he said. “He was always the life of the party.” Pearce praised the “bloody good turnout” for the legends match, which also marked the 20th anniversary of the club’s first premiership. “We’ve just had this support for 20 years, so it’s no surprise,” he said. Fellow survivor Brad McIlroy said the crowd support on Kingsley Park’s western bank was “huge”. “The game’s a great opportunity for all the guys at the club at the time to have a beer and get around each other,” he said. “It’s also a good opportunity to thank the community for supporting us through trying times 20 years ago.” McIlroy was a second-year apprentice electrician when he went to Bali in ’02. Now he has his own business negotiating gas and electricity power supply contracts, but not before spending six years in London. “I had to get away where no one knew who I was,” he said. “I could just be me. “Living in Perth I couldn’t get around without anyone knowing me — had a negative connotation.” Another of the Kingsley boys, Damon Brimson, has got on with life as a family man and carpenter. The 20th anniversary means “a lot of reflection on the guys we lost in the bombing”. “I’ve been lucky to have two kids and a beautiful wife. Family are my rocks; they keep me going,” Brimson said. “This week will be pretty hectic. I try and stay out of the media. This sort of stuff brings it back.” Kingsley Bali hero Ben Clohessy rescued several people in the horrific aftermath of the Sari Club bombing and later received the Star of Courage. The cabinetmaker would not be drawn on the atrocities 20 years on, preferring to let his footy do the talking. “This is my expression of it anyway,” he said. Among the good crowd watching the game was Kylie Nelson, the niece of Laurie Kerr, the club official who suffered serious burns in the bombing. He died in 2020. “It’s great to see all the boys again,” she said. “A lot of the boys have suffered, some more than others. “Phil Britten has done amazing — he was the most affected (suffering burns to 60 per cent of his body). “Something that weighed on my uncle’s shoulders was the fact he took players over there that were not 18 yet and some of them never came back. “And he never recovered from it, I can assure you. “But it’s lovely to see the boys have grown up to have families ... it’s heartbreaking seven of them didn’t get the opportunity to be here tonight with children and families. “And the boys are all wearing black armbands in their memory. “We have members of the club who have come all the way from Scotland to be here tonight. “It shows how important it is and Kingsley will never forget — it’s part of our soul.” Britten made the club’s 10th anniversary legends game but has been driving around Australia with his wife and three children for the past couple of years and was in Queensland for the 20th anniversary. The motivational speaker and martial arts school owner said each year the Kingsley boys tried to come together for lunch and the sunrise ceremony at Kings Park. They kept in touch through Facebook, particularly “checking in on people this time of year”. “The ripple effect it still hurts and has its shadow over people,” he said. He does a lot of motivational talks to kids and young adults “who weren’t around and don’t know anything about the Bali bombings”. “It’s important to keep the memory going of what happened that night,” he said. The same goes for Kevin Paltridge, the father of Kingsley footballer Corey who died in the Sari Club blast. Each year he addresses the Cats colts squad about the significance of Bali. Paltridge, his wife Pat and extended family regard Kingsley Football Club as “our home”. “They are our family,” he said. “Every time we come here we get a lot of love and lots of affection. “And our second family are the guys who returned and their families. “They’ve got kids now. And the first thing they do is come up and give us a hug — it’s absolutely brilliant. Paltridge still ponders the day that he drove the Kingsley boys in a limousine to the airport for their Bali trip 20 years ago. “I think of what I didn’t say,” he said. “I didn’t say I loved him (Corey) and that’s what I’ll always regret. “I said ‘have a good time and be careful’.” Lifeline: 13 11 14