One of the five South Sydney founding fathers, and rugby league pioneers in 1907. Fry, who was club vice-captain for the inaugural 1908 season, captained South Sydney to victory in the 1908 premiership final, as Hennessy was away. Winning South Sydney's first premiership, before retiring.
Fry was all round sportman playing soccer, Aussie Rules and rugby. Fry had a remarkable ability to drop kick a ball from a early age. Trumper a fine Aussie Rules footballer, early in his career, took Fry under his wing, and by age 12 he was playing Aussie Rules for South Sydney. Then as part of the 1901 Commonwealth Games he dropped kicked a ball a record 69 yards at the Sports Ground.
Fry had played for South Sydney RU for 8 seasons, including playing in the first South Sydney RU district team in 1900, and playing in the premiership winning 1905 South Sydney Rugby Union team.
Early in 1907 Victor Trumper and Harry Hoyle, visited Fry in his home as they proposed to form a new football league, based upon the Northern Union rules. Without hesitation Fry took them to meet Arthur Hennessy and Billy Cann, so in one night in Surry Hills, the first players were enlisted for the NSW rugby league. before becoming part of the new professional movement in 1907. Fry played for New South Wales in the 1st match against the New Zealand All Golds at the RAS Showground in 1907, before being banned by the MRU.
From this moment Fry would be heavy involved in setting up the new South Sydney Rugby League district club as one of the clubs founding fathers. Fry made his first grade premiership debut in the inaugural Round 1 1908 South Sydney premiership match against North Sydney at Birchgrove Oval.
Fry would only play one season for South Sydney. He played 9 first grade premiership games for South Sydney.
Fry played 5 representative games while at South Sydney. This included 3 games for New South Wales. Fry turned down the opportunity to go with the 1908-09 Kangaroos as he had wedding arrangements in place.
Fry played his final first grade premiership game for South Sydney in the winning 1908 premiership final. In December 1908, as skipper of the 1908 South Sydney premiership winning team, Fry was presented with the first medal every struck by the N.S.W. Rugby League. Fry retired after playing sport for 18 seasons.
Fry would be awarded NSWRL Life Membership in 1908 as one of the NSW Pioneers. Then in 1963 Fry would be awarded South Sydney Life Membership.
Player Relatives
Brother - Fry, William
Brother - Fry, Fred (Souths Admin/Easts)
Representative Qualification
NSW City
Date of Birth
Surry Hills - 2nd September 1878 (Died - 1968)
Previous Clubs First Grade
M T G FG Pt
Sydney Juniors Aussie Rules(1890)
South Sydney Aussie Rules (1891)
Soccer (1891)
Richmond RU (1894-95)
South Sydney Chelseas RU (1896)
Richmond RU (1897)
Newtown Aussie Rules (1900)
South Sydney RU (1900-07) 62 9 - 2 33
Playing Career at South Sydney (1908)
South Sydney First Grade Debut
1908 Rd01 Brch v North Sydney (29y 231d)
First Grade
Premiership
M S R T G/A FG Pts
1908 9 9 - 2 - - 6
TOTAL 9 9 - 2 - - 6
SS FG 9 9 - 2 - - 6
Lower Grades
Second Grade : Third Grade :
Year M S R T G/A FG Pts : M S R T G/A FG Pts :
1908 - - - - - - - : - - - - - - -
TOTAL - - - - - - - : - - - - - - -
South Sydney Senior(FG/RG/3G) Grade Career
Premiership : All Matches
M S R T G/A FG Pts : M S R T G/A FG Pts
CAREER 9 9 - 2 - - 6 : 9 9 - 2 - - 6
Match Statistics at South Sydney
Versus - First Grade : Lower Grades
(FG) Premiership : (RG) Premiership
T G/A FG Pts : T G/A FG Pts
Wests 1 - - 3 :
Easts 1 - - 3 :
Venues - First Grade : Lower Grades
(FG) Premiership : (RG) Premiership
T G/A FG Pts : T G/A FG Pts
RASG 2 - - 6 :
1908 First Grade Statistics : Lower Grade Statistics
T G FG : T G FG
Rd01 Cntr Norths Brch W - - - :
Rd02 Cntr Wests RASG W 1 - - :
Rd03 Cntr Cumberland RASG W - - - :
Rd04 Cntr Easts RASG L 1 - - :
Rd05 Cntr Newtown RASG W - - - :
Rd06 Cntr Glebe RASG W - - - :
Rd07 Cntr Newcastle RASG W - - - :
MSF Cntr Glebe Went W - - - :
F Cntr Easts RASG W - - - :
1908 TOTALS 2 - - :
Captaincy Record at South Sydney
South Sydney First Grade Captaincy Debut
1908 Rd03 v Cumberland
First Grade
Year Premiership( W- D-L %)
1908 5( 4- 0-1 80%)
TOTAL 5( 4- 0-1 80%)
SS FG 5( 4- 0-1 80%)
Suspension Record at South Sydney
Year v Wk CO Ldg G CHARGE never
Player Awards
Year Award 1908 - NSWRL Life Membership 1963 - South Sydney DRLFC Life Membership 2021 - South Sydney Founding Father
Representative Honours at South Sydney
Domestic CvC / Interstate : Tourists : Other
M S R T G/A FG Pts : M S R T G/A FG Pts : M S R T G/A FG Pts
New South Wales 1907-08 1 1 - - - - - : 2 2 - - - - - :
NSW Possibles 1908 : : 1 1 - - - - -
Sydney Metropolis 1908 : 1 1 - - - - - :
TOTAL 5 5 - - - - -
International Internationals : Other
M S R T G/A FG Pts : M S R T G/A FG Pts
never
ALL REPS 5 5 - - - - -
Year Pos Team Versus Match T G/A FG
1907 Cntr NSW Pioneers v New Zealand 1st Match - - -
1907 Cntr NSW Pioneers v New Zealand 2nd Match - - -
1908 3/4 NSW Possibles v NSW Probables - - -
1908 3/4 Syd Metropolis v Queensland - - -
1908 3/4 New South Wales v Queensland 2nd Match - - -
After his retirement Ed Fry served for 60 years as a club administrator, in various roles.
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