Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Newtown's Frank Cheadle - was killed in France in 1916

In 1917, with the Great War still raging in Europe, the NSWRL organised a ‘Patriotic Match' between ‘The Kangaroos' and ‘The Rest of NSW'. The day was set aside to raise funds for the war effort and to encourage men to enlist.

Amongst the old Kangaroos who caught up with each other at the match were some of the game's greatest pioneer players including Sid Deane, Herb Gilbert, Charles ‘Chook' Fraser, Arthur ‘Pony' Halloway, Chris McKivat, Tedda Courtney, Paddy McCue,
Dan Frawley, Charles ‘Boxer' Russell and
Dally Messenger.

Undoubtedly though their thoughts turned to one of their absent Kangaroo team mates - Frank Cheadle. He had been killed by the Germans in France a year earlier.

Rugby league was comprised of men with divergent views and backgrounds. They, like the rest of the Australian community, grappled with the issues of the War and decided whether to participate or not.

Some were Irish Catholics who opposed anything to do with serving England. Most were working-class Labor party members who didn't support the values of the Liberal government. Others were married, had young families and weren't prepared to leave them behind with minimal financial support.

One of many who did choose to enlist was Newtown and Kangaroo forward Frank Cheadle. He served at Gallipoli with the AIF, before his battalion was transferred to France in early 1916. In May of 1916 Cheadle was shot in the head while on patrol and died.

The news would have saddened many in the Sydney rugby league community, as Cheadle was one of the men who took part in the 1907 matches against the ‘All Golds' and was a member of the first Kangaroos in 1908/09.

The ‘Patriotic Match' between ‘The Kangaroos' and ‘The Rest of NSW' held on Saturday 25th August at the Agricultural Ground (Showground) in Sydney was one such event. The Sydney Morning Herald described the day as "a patriotic carnival and recruiting rally".

There were four matches on the programme and all gate receipts were "devoted for patriotic purposes". The star attraction of the day was to be the return of Dally Messenger to the football field.

Messenger had retired at the end of 1913 and, as well as being part owner of a Queensland banana plantation, had moved to Manilla (near Tamworth) to operate a hotel. He arrived by train two days before the match, travelling for 24 hours without sleep. Messenger though said it was worth the journey to contribute. He also looked forward to catching up with old Kangaroos and to once more play before the Sydney crowd.

Those who knew Messenger noticed he was well below the weight of his playing days. Dally though wasn't going to give his opponents cause for taking it easy on him. He quickly offered that he was well fit enough and had in fact been playing for Manilla with a local rugby union club - not all rugby union ceased apparently. The Referee quipped that the rules about professionalism had also seemingly failed to reach rural NSW.

The first match between ‘Returned Soldiers' and ‘No.4 Garrison Hospital' kicked off the patriotic carnival just after midday. In an open affair, the Soldiers won by 20-10. As the crowd began to build (ultimately reaching 13,000), a hard fought Final of the Catholic Schools A Grade competition was played between St. Benedicts and North Sydney, with the former winning 3 points to nil.

A number of recruitment speeches were then made by the ‘Sportsmen's Recruiting Committee'. New found recruits were able to enlist there and then at the ground. The NSWRL also acceded to a request to include a ‘recruiting match' between ‘Australia and Germany'.

The match of twenty-minutes duration was meant to inspire men to sign-up. It featured an Aussie team fitted out in khaki colours while, according to the Herald, "the other wore German uniforms". You can guess who came out on top! The Australians prevailed over the enemy by 12-9.

The match apparently though produced more hilarity for the patrons than any immediate desire to join the armed forces.

Whenever the ‘Australians' were in trouble defending their line, fresh replacements would enter the fray to save the day and repel the advancing Germans. The Daily Telegraph reported that "roars of laughter followed one after the other" particularly as those players who became ‘casualties' enjoyed lying on the field as the match continued around them.

This put the crowd in good spirits for the main game and the appearance of Messenger brought the loudest applause of the day. The Referee recorded that once the match began the crowd took to "cheering whenever anything of special excellence was shown by either side".

Kangaroos: Howard Hallett, Dally Messenger, Sid Deane, Herb Gilbert, Charles Fraser, Pony Halloway, Chris McKivat, Tedda Courtney, Bob Williams, Bob Craig, Paddy McCue, Billy Cann. Reserves: Dan Frawley, Charles Boxer Russell, Con Sullivan, Bob Stuart, Webby Neill, Larry O'Malley.

Rest of NSW: Lyall Wall, Jack ‘Junker' Robinson, Ray Norman, W. Conaghan, R. Proust, Cec Blinkhorn, Alf ‘Smacker' Blair, George McGowan, Bill ‘Changa' Schultz, O. McCarthy, F Ryan, Dick Townsend, Reg Latta and Arthur Oxford.

The scores were locked at 10-all at half time. Kangaroo forward Billy Cann was noted as "portly, quite Falstaffian" by The Daily Telegraph (whose writer perhaps knew more of William Shakespeare than many of his readers). Messenger was not heavily involved and he only entered the play in brief moments, though he did land "one exceptional long range goal from near the sideline".

There was some drama after Sid Deane (Kangaroo centre) and Balmain's Lyall Wall (The Rest's fullback) came together and an ensuing scuffle ended up in a fight spilling over the sideline. Referee Tom McMahon sent them both off. ‘The Rest' gained the ascendancy in the second half and went on to win by 20-13.

In the early 1940s Dally Messenger was asked about his recollections of the match: "It seems astounding that I don't remember a thing about that game. Must be because I was only half-trained and took a month to recover from the effects. Getting old I was."