Still serving after 47 years, on and off the court

WO1 Anthony ‘Tony’ Farrer enlisted in the Army for three years at the age of 17.

Forty-seven years, four Invictus Games and countless volleyball matches later, he’s still serving.

WO1 Farrer was presented with his second Federation Star recently, recognising 45 years of service to the ADF.

Chief of Personnel LTGEN Natasha Fox made the presentation at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, in front of a group of Adaptive Sports Program competitors.

It was a fitting audience for a man who has spent years coaching wounded, injured and ill members in adaptive sports.

He said he initially enlisted for three years, “not knowing what Army was going to provide me”.

“I didn’t want to be stuck in South Australia doing what everyone else was doing,” WO1 Farrer said.

“I had plans of being a driver and ended up in transport, which was what I liked doing.”

Postings took him to Sydney, Liverpool, Bandiana, Brisbane, Adelaide and Townsville, later followed by reservist roles in Canberra.

When volleyball was introduced in 1984 at Liverpool Transport Unit, a colleague assumed that, as a South Australian, he must be a good player.

“I said, ‘No, I play Aussie Rules’,” he said.

“We started mucking around playing volleyball at lunchtime.”

That lunchtime game grew into four decades of representative volleyball.

He has played for every state he was posted to, represented Australia in New Zealand and the UK, and coached both the men’s and women’s national Defence teams.

He was introduced to sitting volleyball, then known as ‘crab volleyball’, during a Sydney posting.

In 2018, he formally joined the ADF Adaptive Sports Program, and has since coached sitting volleyball at four Invictus Games and a Warrior Games.

“There was a whole bunch of people that needed some purpose, whether it be mental health or physical. People who still wanted to compete but were struggling to find a way,” WO1 Farrer said.

“I wanted to see what I could give back by teaching people how to play the sport sitting down. It’s the most fun you can have sitting down.”

At 64, he is still playing able-bodied volleyball and recently completed his Level 2 sitting volleyball coaching qualification.

He continues to serve as a reservist with the Australian Defence College and coaches sitting volleyball with Volleyball Australia.

Speaking at his presentation, attended by adaptive sports competitors, many of whom were medically discharged, he said he didn’t have injuries that had prevented him from continuing to serve.

“But even if you were medically discharged, you should never regret your service or how you got to where you are today,” he said.

“Don’t think about what you can’t do; find something else. It doesn’t matter what it is, you have got to give it a go.”