SCG MUSEUM - RUGBY LEAGUE EXHIBITION

"Fields of Tradition: A look back at rugby league at the Sydney Cricket Ground, the Sydney Sports Ground and the Sydney Football Stadium".

SCG Museum "Fields of Tradition" rugby league exhibition.

Rugby League fans can take a trip down memory lane and view a range of prized memorabilia in the “Fields of Tradition” exhibition at the SCG Museum featuring Test caps, jerseys, playing boots and other items of history.

The SCG Museum curator, Marcelle Jacobs, has gathered items dating back to the early 1900’s through to Anthony Minichiello’s 2007 Roosters Centenary jumper.

The items on display are:

Honour cap, Arthur ‘Pony’ Halloway, 1908, 1914, 1919 - Halloway was one of the pioneers of rugby league, touring England in 1908 with the first Kangaroos.

1928 Australian Test cap - England defeated Australia 8-0 in the second Test and clinched the Ashes. It was the first time Australia played in green and gold jerseys at the SCG, although they had worn green and gold in the first Test in Brisbane.

Australia regains the ‘ashes’ (newspaper 1950) - In the historic Test series of 1950 Australia defeated England 5-2 on 22 July, winning the ‘ashes’ for the first time in 30 years. The match was played in torrential rain which turned the field into a quagmire. Despite conditions, the Test drew a crowd of 47,178.

Images from the NSW tour of New Zealand, 1912 - This was the first Australian representative rugby league side to cross the Tasman Sea. Edward Hooper was the manager.

Australian honour cap, Frank Burge, 1914, 1920-22 - The 1914 winter saw the first Anglo-Australian Test match played at the SCG. England famously took back the Ashes after being down to 10 men, several of them injured.

Harold Horder’s honour cap, 1913-1924 - Playing for South Sydney and North Sydney, Horder was one of the greatest attacking wingers of the code. Between 1913 and 1924 he represented NSW against England five times, Queensland seven times and New Zealand five times.

Glebe Football Club honour cap, Frank Burge, 1911-1923 - One of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league, Burge played 150 games for Glebe between 1911 and 1926. Glebe entered first grade in 1908, but by 1929 was voted out of the Premiership by NSW Rugby League.

Honour cap, Western Suburbs District League Football Club - E.L. Steppler, 1919-1926

Edward James Hooper Collection

Edward James Hooper was the founding father of the NSWRL Referees Association in 1907. He refereed the first rugby league match held in Australia at Wentworth Park, Newtown v Easts in 1908, as well as the first international match in the same year. In 1912 he was the manager of the NSW touring team which played New Zealand in that country, and was joint manager of the NSW tour to New Zealand in 1913.

- NSW Referee’s cap, 1908

- Manager’s cap, 1912

- Referee’s hat band, c.1908

- NSWRFL official season pass, 1925

- NSWRFL referee’s badge, 1913

- Referee’s whistle

- NSWRFL Life Membership badge

Commemorative miniature gold football, 1913 - This was presented to Hooper after the 1913 tour of New Zealand, where NSW won all 11 games. Hooper was the Joint Manager of the team.

1957 Australian World Cup jersey, Norm Provan - Australia easily won the 1957 World Cup which was held at the SCG and the Brisbane Cricket Ground. Australia defeated New Zealand 25-5, Great Britain 31-6 and France 26-9. It was the first World Cup to be held in the southern hemisphere.

City Cup Competition medal, 1913, Awarded to Chris McKivat, Glebe District Club. McKivat was captain of the 1911-12 Kangaroos, captain of Glebe and later coach of North Sydney. The City Cup competition, for which he was awarded this medal, lasted from 1912 to 1925, and was revived intermittently until 1959. Glebe never won a Premiership – the 1913 City Cup win against Norths was the highlight of their short life.

George Treweek 1927 NSW Jersey - Treweek was one of rugby league’s greatest second row forwards. He played for South Sydney in the 1920s and ‘30s – three years as captain. In 1927 he played for NSW in all four interstate matches. On 27 June that year the match between NSW and Queensland drew 56,487 spectators to the SCG – a record crowd for interstate matches which lasted for 67 years.

Headguard, Dave Brown - Known as ‘the Bradman of rugby league’, Brown was a centre for Easts in the 1930s era. He wore his trademark leather headgear after losing his hair following an illness. In 1935 Brown broke Dally Messenger’s score of 270 points with 385 and was considered a remarkable player of great skill throughout his career.

1936 Test jersey, Wally Prigg. Won by England at the SCG, this was the last Anglo-Australian Test to be played in Australia until 1946. A lock forward for Newcastle, Wally ‘Kanga’ Prigg played in 19 Test matches and captained the first Australian team to play against France.

Game abandoned (football socks, whistle and referee badge belonging to Aubrey Oxford) - The 10th July, 1954 saw the only semi-international match ever abandoned in the history of rugby league, when referee Aubrey Oxford walked off the field. He left the game between Great Britain and NSW at the SCG midway through the second half during a brawl which involved most of the 26 players. NSW was leading 17-6. Oxford retired after this match and never refereed again.

Clive Churchill’s 1956-57 Australian jersey and playing boots - Clive Churchill was arguably the greatest of all rugby league fullbacks. He played for South Sydney, who dominated during his era, winning five out of the six premierships from 1950 to 1955. Churchill played 34 Tests and made four Kangaroo tours. The 1956-57 tour was Churchill’s last.

A Royal Tour (photographs and magazine from the 1970 Royal Tour) - In 1970 Balmain and South Sydney played in the first rugby league match in Australia to be attended by royalty. Queen Elizabeth, Prince Phillip and Princess Anne watched an entertaining match, won by South Sydney 14-5 in front of a crowd of 38,000 at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

That’s a miracle! Queensland jersey worn by Mark Coyne in the 1994 State of Origin series. In the 1994 State of Origin, Mark Coyne made a try in the final moments of Game 1 giving Queensland a 16-12 victory over NSW at the Sydney Football Stadium. The try was one of the most gripping moments in Origin history, and had commentator Ray Warren exclaiming at the end “That’s not a try, that’s a miracle!”

St George v South Sydney Grand Final, 1965 - On 18 September, 1965, an Australian rugby league club match attendance record was set when an official 78,056 crowd watched St. George defeat South Sydney 12-8 in the Grand Final. The actual crowd number was higher as there were many gatecrashers, including some who managed to scale a wall from the adjacent Sydney Showground! The old Bob Stand roof proved a popular vantage point for spectators, among them Wollongong teenager Bob Fulton, who the following year, aged 17, began a brilliant international career with the Manly-Warringah club.

Photographs

On 18 July, 1964 Australia scored eight tries to defeat France 35-9 to win the third Rugby League Test and the series 3-0. The attendance was 16,731. The standard of French Rugby League had fallen to such an extent that it was not until 1981 that France returned to play in Australia.

Wally Prigg at Newcastle No: 1 Sportsground on 7 January 1936 when South Australia played Newcastle. Bradman was caught out for 46 and South Australia won on first innings by 3 wickets and 128 runs. Prigg was the groundsman. The photograph was taken by J.A. Little of The Sun newspaper

George Treweek’s football boots - Treweek used these boots during the third Test v England 1929

Anthony Minichiello’s football jersey and signed photograph - This jersey was worn by Roosters star fullback Anthony Minichiello in 2007, the Roosters’ Centenary year.

Medals

Winfield Cup medal and 1988 100th Ashes Test medals.

Framed photographs:

1910 First English rugby league team to tour Australia

1911 NSW v NZ match SCG

1911 NZ All Blacks representative team

1912 NSW v Wellington 23 August, 1912

1912 NSW v Wellington 24 August, 1912

1918 NSWRFL South Sydney v Western Suburbs Final

1921-22 Australasian representative team cameos

1930 NSW Representative team v Queensland August 1930

1932 England v Australia 1st Test

1937-38 Kangaroos, team shot at SCG

1944 NSWRFL Sponsoring the Armed Forces

1946 NSW v England 1 June, 1946 Australian team photo

1948-49 Australian representative team

1950 Clive Churchill

1956 NZ team

1958 Great Britain v Australia 3rd Test

1963 South African Australasian Tour team photo

1964 Australia v France 3rd Test

Framed Jersey:

2008 Centenary of Rugby League Heritage Round Wests v Souths

Magazines:

1932 RL News 4 June England v Australia First Test

1936 RL News July England v Australia 3rd Test

1943 Army v The Rest SSG

1948 Australia v NZ Test Match

1953 RL News 30 May, America v Sydney

1955 RL News 11 June France v NSW

1957 Jubilee World Cub Australia v Great Britain

1958 Australia v Great Britain 3rd Test

1968 South Sydney

1951 Australia v France Puig Aubert

1932 Aerial view of 3rd Test Australia v Great Britain 16 July, 1932

1958 NSW and Queensland teams

1964 Australia v France 1st Test 18 June,1964 Australian team

1964 French Team

Link: Sydney Cricket & Sports Ground Trust

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