Tuckshop lady put the meat on feisty young Eels
Feeding frenzy … Lynn Southam says she gave leftovers to five Parramatta players who attended Westfields Sports High.
Photo: James Brickwood
By: Antony Lawes
IF THE way to a man's heart is through his stomach, then Lynn Southam is held in deep affection by a good chunk of Parramatta's grand final
football team.
Five Eels players - Jarryd Hayne, Krisnan Inu, Matthew Keating, Feleti Mateo and Eric Grothe - went to the school where she is canteen
manager, and Ms Southam fed them all.
These days, whenever they return to Westfields Sports High School for coaching or to see friends and teachers, the players make a beeline
for the woman they once called ''Miss''.
Inu has been known to line up with the students and shout lunch. ''Kris comes in, he always gives me a kiss and a cuddle, then they eat and
then they go and see this lot,'' she says, pointing in the direction of Wayne Lambkin, the school's chief rugby league
coach.
Ms Southam has been in the canteen for 16 years and says that after lunch she often left extra food for the players, knowing they would be
hungry.
''Being boys, they never have enough food,'' said the mother of four, two of whom play softball for Australia. ''You see them grow. They
start here as boys and they leave as men.''
Today the school will hold a ''blue and gold day'' in honour of the five. If they win on Sunday they will equal the school's best
representation in an NRL grand final. In 2005 it had five players in the winning Wests Tigers team.
With thanks
Posted 2nd October 2009
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