From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur Hennessy
Arthur Hennessy
Arthur Hennessy Rugby league career
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Hooker
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
1901–1907 South Sydney RUFC
Provincial/State sides
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1901–1907 New South Wales
Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy (24 September 1876 in
Sydney, New South Wales – 19 September 1959) was an
Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a semi-
nal figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs
for whom he played and later coached. He was a state
Full name Arthur Stephen Hennessy and national representative hooker/forward and was the
Date of birth 24 September 1876 first captain of the Australian national rugby league
team.
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales
Date of death 19 September 1959
Rugby union career
Place of death Maroubra, New South Wales
His junior football was played in the centres for the Boys
Rugby league career Brigade in 1895. He then played for Bayview in 1896 and
became a South Sydney junior. By 1901 he was regular
Position Hooker
first grade rugby union player for Souths in 1901. Hen-
Professional clubs nessy represented New South Wales in 1901, 1902 and
Years Club / team Caps (points) 1904, and in 1907 was made Souths’ captain.
A breakaway, and later hooker in rugby union (with
1908–1911 South Sydney 26 (23) Souths), when in 1902 Hennessy represented against New
1909 Eastern Suburbs 4 (0)
Zealand, the All Blacks mistook him for a halfback as
State Representation he lacked the size they deemed necessary for a forward.
His enthusiastic foraging and tackling soon changed Kiwi
Years Club / team Caps (points)
minds.
1908 NSW 1 (0) He was a rugby union coach at The King’s School, Syd-
National teams
ney in 1905.
Years Club / team Caps (points)
Rugby league pioneer
1908-09 Australia 2 (0)
When the New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907, Hen-
Teams coached nessy joined the breakaway New South Wales Rugby
1913 New South Wales Football League and was selected as the new code’s first
1913 South Sydney New South Wales captain. In October of that year Hen-
1929–30 Australian National team nessy chaired a meeting of rugby identities with a view to
1942–44 NSW Country creating a South Sydney rugby league club. The club was
1946 South Sydney
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur Hennessy
formed on 17 January 1908 and Hennessy was the inau- In 1908, he was Souths’ first hooker and, with Billy Cann,
gural captain-coach. one of the club’s first two delegates to the NSW Rugby
For rugby league, Hennessy’s place in the scheme of League. In that foundation season had the honour of cap-
things is nothing less than extraordinary. When the new taining Australia in its first ever rugby league Test –
game of Northern Union (rugby league) arrived in Aus- against New Zealand. Hennessy played in both Tests in
tralia in the late winter of 1907, he enthusiastically May against New Zealand as captain, both of which Aus-
stepped on board and when the New Zealand All Golds tralia lost.
came to play the first of their historic three-game series In July of that inaugural season he made another rep-
against the locals at the Agricultural Ground (Sydney resentative appearance captaining New South Wales in a
Showground) in August 1907, he was the NSW captain 43-0 whitewash of Queensland in the first ever Australian
and coach. The games were played under rugby union interstate match.
rules as no one had a copy of the new code’s laws. Hen- He won a place in the inaugural Kangaroo tour of
nessy subsequently read the rule book which arrived in 1908–09, but came under criticism since he also doubled
Australia and declared: "This is a game for racehorses". as a selector. He suffered a luckless campaign. Battling
Along with his fellow pioneers Hennessy was pre- with his teammates through a brutal UK winter, he broke
pared to accept the ill-will that accompanied the splitting his jaw and then his cheekbone in minor matches and
of the rugby code. "You had to take it on the chin and played only seven games on tour.
give it on the chin," he said. "Many good friendships tum- In 1909 Hennessy made three appearances for the
bled to dust when we switched football codes." Eastern Suburbs club, including that year’s semi-final
Hennessy stands as a monumental figure in the South against Balmain in which he was named as captain.
Sydney story. It was at his home in Chapman St, Surry
Hills in October 1907 that the meeting was held which led
to the formation of the Rabbitohs. Hennessy has sent a
circular to all rugby union clubs in the district, conven-
ing the meeting. Because of that day and the events that
followed, he can be fairly rated as the club’s founder.
Club and representative career
Ash (front, 3rd from right) with Pioneer Kangaroos 1908-09
Coach
As coach at South Sydney he was also the father of the
Rabbitoh’s own style – introducing the famous "no kick"
policy, based on his football creed of Position, Possession,
Penetration and Pace. His theory was this: If you pass the
ball often enough and move forward with supports, the
defence must eventually crack and you will score tries.
Souths lived that creed through glorious eras and for
much of the club’s life – although the arrival of the lim-
ited tackle rule in 1967 inevitably changed the way the
game was played.
In 1913 he coached a New South Wales side on a tour
of New Zealand and was ahead of his time in introducing
a steak-only protein diet on match days. In 1929–30 he
had the honour of being coach-masseur of the Kangaroo
tourists, who due to Chimpy Busch’s controversial ’no-
try’ at Swinton, were unlucky not to bring home the Ash-
Eastern Suburbs Player Number:35 es.
In 1930 he served as the coach of New Zealand in their
tour of Australia.[1]
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Arthur Hennessy
Preceded by Coach Succeeded by
Thomas McClymont New Zealand Kiwis Bill Kelly
1930
He was a man of diverse talents – a football guru who
taught rugby (both codes) to a range of teams, at a num-
References
ber of levels: Souths, Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, [1] Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International
Waverley College, The King’s School – as well as Country, Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
State and Australia’s national representative sides. He al- • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New
so taught boxing, and for a time was manager of the Holland, Sydney
lightweight Australian champion Sid Godfrey. • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The
Forty years ago Jack Coyne summed him up this way: Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen
"His outstanding coaching ability, his leadership on the Publishing, Sydney
field and off, his pertinacity and his personality all com- • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League
bined to make Arthur a redoubtable friend and an im- Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
placable opponent." Coyne made the point that for a
footballer to survive the challenges that emerged in rug-
by league’s early days, he had to be "a big man, in heart,
External links
courage and stature". • Arthur Hennessy at the Online Dictionary of
Undoubtedly Ash Hennessy scored highly on the re- Australian Biographies
quired qualities. He ranks as one of Souths’ great men – a Persondata
major influence and driving force in all that the club was Name Hennessy, Arthur
to become.
Alternative
names
Later life Short de- Australian pioneer rugby league foot-
Living at Maroubra in Sydney’s south-eastern beaches scription baller and coach
Hennessy became something of a local entrepreneur in Date of birth 24 September 1876
later life, investing in the Maroubra speedway; opening a
Place of birth Sydney, New South Wales
mini-golf course and owning the local cinema . He lived
till his death in a cottage opposite the theatre and is Date of death 19 September 1959
buried in Botany cemetery. Place of Maroubra, New South Wales
death
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Arthur_Hennessy&oldid=444061649"
Categories:
• 1876 births
• 1959 deaths
• Australian rugby league players
• Australia national rugby league team players
• Australia national rugby league team captains
• South Sydney Rabbitohs players
• Sydney Roosters players
• Australian rugby league coaches
• South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches
• New Zealand national rugby league team coaches
• New South Wales rugby league team players
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