Centenary Celebrations Kickoff
7th January 2008
It's Centenary birthday time for Rugby League's oldest Australian clubs and, to celebrate, some of their grand survivors today gathered at the scene of their great battles, the Sydney Cricket Ground, to relive past glories. The six remaining Foundation clubs, South Sydney, Sydney Roosters (initially Eastern Suburbs), Balmain and Western Suburbs (who merged to become Wests Tigers), Newtown and North Sydney, celebrate the 100-year anniversary of their formations over the next five weeks. In an historic occasion, six of the oldest players to have played for the clubs - Wally O'Connell (Easts), Bill Keato (Wests), Jack Lawrence (Souths), George Debnam (Newtown), Norm Strong (Norths) and Sid Ryan (Balmain) - locked hands for the kick-off to Rugby League's Centenary celebrations.
The smallest but certainly the most celebrated footballer of the six was Wally O'Connell, Australia's oldest surviving Test captain. The diminutive five-eighth, who played 10 Tests, first played for Easts in 1942 and forged a marvellous career despite impaired peripheral sight, captaining Australia during the 1948-49 Kangaroo tour. He later coached Manly to their first Grand Final appearance in 1951 (he would have played but had broken his arm) and returned to the position to be Bob Fulton's first Manly coach in 1966. Newtown's George Debnam first played for the Bluebags during World War II before heading off to do his Army service in Darwin. He returned to play again before, in his first year of retirement, becoming club secretary in 1952 and the man most responsible for saving the club from possible closure after investigating the books and finding it in extreme debt. Despite the loss of several leading players, the debts were paid back within five years and the first grade side, thanks to a new breed of young locals, made the 1954 and 1955 finals against the champion Souths side. "I had no idea what I had let myself in for, there had been a lot of secrecy about the finances and players owed money, but we were able to recover and proudly we soon after had one of our best eras on the field," recalled Debnam. Bill Keato, a goalkicking Wests fullback who was the competition's leading pointscorer in 1947, began his career with the Magpies back in 1938 and is the oldest of the group at 89. He gave his beloved black and whites over four decades of service as a player, club secretary and treasurer and played in the 1948 final against Balmain. He could remember his first playing bonus (season's match winning payments) of '13 in 1938, of which two shillings and sixpence was deducted as membership fees. "I was working in Sydney on a weekly wage of seven shillings and sixpence," he recalled. "From this amount came my weekly ticket and costs associated with playing for Wests, two meals a week in Sydney [because he didn't have time to go home to Liverpool and back to Pratten Park for training], plus tram or train fares on Saturdays to play. "So from my 13 pounds there was little left after buying a pair of 'Dally M' football boots made to measure for 3 pounds. But it wasn't a financial thing. I wouldn't have swapped a thing, it was an honour to play for Wests."
Souths' Jack Lawrence, 86, can still remember watching his father Jack Sr play for the Rabbitohs in the late 1920s (he played 58 first grade games), alongside brother Vic, who was a strapping centre who played in two premiership sides and four finals. Jack Jr played three seasons with Souths from 1944 (19 first grade games) as did his brother Vince. He then set up his own milk run and retired from football.
Norm Strong held Norths appearance record for 30 years with a total of 231 first grade games from 1950-62. As a hooker he naturally rues the demise of the competitive scrum, and his old club from the NRL, but still enjoys watching the game. "I still like the game, the speed and the skill level, but I don't like scrums being a virtual rest break and halfbacks becoming hookers almost at will," he said. "In my day, scrums were a game within the game and a hooker was exposed to all sorts of treatment."
Sid Ryan was a tough second-rower in Balmain's second great period of success in the 1940s when they won two premierships and were beaten in two other finals. He played alongside the likes of Harry Bath, Jack Jorgensen and Pat Devery. Interestingly, O'Connell helped thwart another title for Ryan in 1945 when he was one of the stars in the winning Easts side, while Keato's Wests denied Ryan's Tigers a third straight premiership in 1948, 60 years ago this September. The three have not been reunited since. The oldest surviving club, Newtown, will hold a function tomorrow to celebrate their 100-year anniversary followed by Souths (January 17), Balmain (January 23), Roosters (January 24), Wests (February 4) and Norths (February 7).