Some people in their seventies get their weekly fix of exercise on the bowling green or on the golf course, but one man is still lacing up for a full contact sport. Neil Rainbow is keeping his sporting dream alive well into his eighth decade, and it now the country’s oldest Aussie Rules footballer.
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00:00At the age of 76, Neil Rainbow shows no sign of slowing down.
00:07What's the old guy doing out there?
00:10After decades playing amateur, suburban and masters footy in Melbourne, Rainbow made the
00:15move to the New South Wales Far South Coast, where he's had a decorated career.
00:20I'm well over 200 games with many awards and premierships at various clubs across the Sapphire
00:27South Coast AFL and I'm very proud of that record.
00:33Playing the game hasn't been without its challenges, including a broken leg, but Rainbow surprised
00:38doctors with his recovery.
00:40Nurse, would you mind getting the camera, I want to show student nurses that someone
00:45at 56 can recover like that.
00:48And being around the football club helps keep him young.
00:50If there was only one that could do it, it would be Rainbow, he's the man, he's the goat.
00:55His skills are still near 100% which is awesome.
00:59While Rainbow is used to playing alongside teammates up to six decades younger than himself,
01:04he'll soon take to the field with footballers his own age in the first ever over 70s game
01:08at the National Masters Carnival in Fremantle this September.
01:12The friendships that I've made, both male and female, throughout Australia through AFL
01:17Masters nationally is just great and I don't feel old.
01:22If that's your passion and your dream, you should stick by it.
01:26You reckon you'll still be playing when you're 76?
01:29Probably not.
01:30Definitely not, hey.
01:31I'll have to make it to 76 first.
01:33And after nearly a thousand games, Rainbow still isn't planning to hang up the boots.
01:38I don't see myself retiring yet, even though when you retire, no, too young for that at
01:43the moment, so you have to live life and live it because life can be short.