For the better part of a decade, the Armidale Blues have held an annual fundraiser for Soldier On in honour of former junior player and soldier Michael Fussell.
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And now they have seen what it is all for.
Fussell grew up in Armidale, played rugby union here, attended The Armidale School before enlisting in the Australian Army in 2002.
He attended the Australian Defence Force Academy and then the Royal Military College.
Fussell was killed in action in 2008.
The Blues have honoured his memory every season by donning commemorative jerseys, auctioning them off and raising funds for Soldier On.
In an effort to bring together two big parts of his life, his mother Madeline Fussell approached the Armidale Blues in 2019 with the idea for the club to travel to Canberra to take on the Australian Defence Force Academy.
But 2023 saw it happen with 61 members of the Blues club travelling to Canberra for a series of special events as well as netball and rugby fixtures at the weekend.
They ventured to the Australian War Memorial for a ceremony where Blues president Anthony McMillan and vice-presidents Kristin Willis and Peter Cumming laid a wreath.
They were guided around by a friend of Michael's who served alongside him.
"It was a really incredible and meaningful experience," McMillan said.
"I think it was a real eye opener for some of our younger ones who just thought they are just away for a weekend on the grog.
"It was just a really emotional and moving experience."
The Blues rugby union sides toured Duntroon before they cheered the Blues' netball side home to a tight, 37-36 win over the Royal Military College team.
"We were about six points in front with four or five minutes to go and their fitness started to tell," McMillan said.
"You can imagine how fit these army people are.
"The girls haven't played for quite a while."
Tash Gregory was named player of the match.
The rugby union began in front up a crowd of nearly 1000 people with the Blues' women's 10s going down to the RMC team 35-nil.
"Because of uni exams, unavailability, HSC exams, we couldn't get all of our team to go," McMillan said.
"We had to get a couple of ring-ins from the local university down there and a couple from RMC to help with our numbers.
"By no means were we disgraced."
Then the men's got underway and it was a tight encounter again.
The Blues held on to win 30-22 and claim the Michael Fussell Memorial Club Champions Cup.
"We had one or two third graders, a couple of second graders and the rest was made up of first grade players," McMillan said.
"With the injuries in the grand final, we had quite a few missing in action.
"That was probably the best game of football our boys have played all year.
"Winning was a bonus, we were just down there for a fundrasier and to make one lady's wish come true.
"We were hoping to be competitive, we weren't expecting to get over the top of them."
Shuaib Rhodes-Swain was player of the match.
McMillan said it was an extra special event for one of their club members.
"We had one of our returned servicemen, Matt McGuire, he played in the team," he said.
"It was a pretty emotional day for him as well because he was a paramedic in the army."
Following the fixtures, the special jerseys were auctioned off for what McMillan said was "quite a considerable amount" which will be donated to Soldier On and RSL Australia.
Overall, McMillan said it was a memorable experience and they value it as a club.
"It was absolutely fantastic, I would turn around and get on the bus and do it all again tomorrow if I had to," he said.
"It just means so much to the club now to give to these charities."