On this Throwback Thursday, Club Historian Bill Dalton recalls Australia’s first ever clash against Hull FC in January 1909 – 112 years ago this Saturday.
Following the successful visit of the 1907 New Zealand tourists and the part they played in the establishment of the Northern Union game in Australia, it was only natural for the league authorities to extend an invitation to the Australians to tour Britain.
They arrived on the SS Macedonia in the final week of September 1908. Based initially at Salford, they played their first British match on 3rd October at Tonypandy, South Wales against Mid-Rhondda who had recently been admitted to the Northern Union.
A month later, on Thursday 5th November, they visited the City of Hull to play Yorkshire at the Boulevard, winning 24-11 and a couple of weeks later visited Hull KR at Craven Street, losing by 16-21.
The new year brought the Kangaroos back to Hull for a third time – on Saturday 30th January 1909 – to meet the Airlie Birds. At that point, Hull had won every home game that season and, indeed, went on to bow the knee only once – to Halifax by 9-10 – by the end of the campaign which culminated in a second Challenge Cup Final appearance.
There was little doubt that Hull had good fortune in that game. The Australian backs were reported as being ‘Brilliant and markedly superior to the corresponding line of their opponents’, but Hull’s forwards were ‘excellent and formidable’.
It was not long before Albert Rosenfeld, who would later achieve great fame with Huddersfield, scored and the first Australian Immortal, Dally Messenger converted. Ned Rogers pulled Hull back into things before half-time with a penalty goal.
Hull’s forwards started well and a well-constructed move was thwarted with the strong wind carrying the ball dead when a Try beckoned. Ned Rogers kicked another Penalty when Hedley was penalised for not playing the ball correctly. At least the Referee’s in those days knew the Rules!!
All subsequent scoring was confined to the last 20 minutes as defences held the upper hand. Courtney followed a kick to touch down only inches inside the dead-ball line and after some consultation concerning an infringement in the lead-up play, but the try stood, although Messenger missed the conversion. 4-8 to the Aussies.
Little hope was left for Hull as the final minutes ticked away, but Billy Holder, picking up a loose ball, inter-passed with Frank Boylen, later to be a member of the first Northern Union Touring team to Australia. Billy supported to take the return pass and evaded the Kangaroos by superior speed, finally scoring when only two minutes remained.
Victory depended on Ned Rogers successfully landing the conversion, but he duly did so and Hull were home after an unforgettable contest. The Boulevard crowd were ecstatic at the victory but were ‘appreciative of the display of the Kangaroos and showed a sporting sympathy’ (Hull Daily Mail).
History would go on to record that success as the only Hull FC team to succeed over Australia as the subsequent 11 contests were lost, in addition to a further three as part of a joint Hull & Hull KR team, although Hull came nearer than anybody else in attempting to lower the Green and Gold colours of the 1982 ‘Invincibles’.
That 1908-09 Australian team wore the previously unseen (in Britain) Irregular Hoops design, coloured Maroon and Light Blue, recognised nowadays as the colours of the State of Origin teams. Three months later, Hull turned out in the same design in the 1909 Challenge Cup Final referred to above, but in Black and White. It became the most famous and widely recognised team outfit in the whole of the Rugby World – and long may it remain so.
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