Aussies Ride Rodeo Dreams To Us

The Sunday Age

Sunday April 15, 2007

Windsor Dobbin

HE'S a plumber from Brewarrina in country NSW who had a very different dream. While other country kids wanted to play football, Anthony Bello set himself for the top as a professional rodeo cowboy.

Pocatello, Idaho, is a long way from outback NSW but it was there a couple of weeks ago that saddle bronc rider Bello won the national title, a cheque for more than $12,000 and the keys to a Dodge truck that's his for a year.

Bello, now based in the tiny town of Oakley, Utah, lifted himself to a top-three ranking in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association saddle bronc standings and is on target for a place in the national finals in Las Vegas at the end of the year.

He is one of a dozen or so Australians competing in the US.

Brad Pierce, who grew up on a farm on the NSW-Victoria border, is also on the verge of the big time and is ranked in the top 10 as a bull rider.

"The Australians all pretty much hang together at rodeos and we make sure people know we are from Australia," Bello says.

Bello picked up more than $32,000 in his first five rodeos of the year, and Pierce has earned more than $37,000 in the opening events of the season.

"It's been a really good start to the year - it's been kick arse," 31-year-old Bello said. "But I've drawn some good horses. If the other guys had drawn the same horses, they'd have as much money as I have.

"In this sport, you have to draw a good horse and ride well. It can go downhill quickly. This is a pretty humbling sport. You only need to draw 10 or 12 bad horses and you are quickly down to earth."

Bello had plenty of success in Australian rodeos, setting a points record in saddle bronc riding.

He went to the US in 2001 and is starting to make an impact.

"If you want to test yourself against the best, want to see if you can be a world champion, this is where you have to be. You can only get so far in Australia," he said.

Bello laughs off suggestions that being thrown through the air by a bucking horse is dangerous. "You take risks every day just walking out of your house," he said.

"It's no different. It's not as if you're going to get hurt every time you get on a bronc. It's a huge adrenaline rush.

"I'm just doing what I enjoy doing, so I don't really care what other people think. Sure, you are going to get hurt but when it happens, it happens. I've broken a leg and an arm, things like that, but nothing major. I know a fellow who broke his back. He doesn't ride rodeo any more, but he still breaks horses in."

Pierce, a 20-year-old who is doing a welding course at Western Texas College, rode his first bull at 16 and won events in Australia over the next two years. The college then recruited him for its rodeo team.

"The people in the US knew what I'd done back home and that gave me a great opportunity," he said.

The boy from Tooma, NSW, arrived in Snyder, Texas, in August 2005 and people in the US soon saw his potential, both as a saddle bronc rider and bull rider.

Pierce's best results last year were on the bucking broncos and this year, he snared a place in the top 10 of the world rankings on bulls before "a little accident" sidelined him with a badly torn groin muscle.

Pierce loves what he does, but finds it hard to explain the attraction. "It's weird," he said. "A lot of people think what I do is crazy, but I think guys who make parachute jumps or compete in motocross are mad, too.

"I've grown up around rodeos and I've got the chance to do something I love, something that gives me a real adrenaline rush. It's amazing that I can do something I love and make a living from it.

"I grew up on a beef cattle farm and used to go to the local rodeos when I was a kid. It was a part of life. Those rodeos were in outdoor arenas with maybe 1000 people watching. Now I'm competing in huge indoor arenas in front of big crowds. It's a different world."

Injury aside, Pierce's ambition is to finish in the top 15 in the rankings and earn a spot at the national finals. "It's going to be tough taking time off, but I've got to let the injury heal," he says. "I've never spoken to a bull rider yet who hasn't suffered a serious injury or two. So far, I've been pretty lucky.

"If I wasn't riding bulls, I don't know what else I'd do."