Quins Down Under

Quins Down Under Table of Contents Introduction! 3 The Early Years (1928 to 1940)! 4 The Club Rebuilds (1947 to 1959)! 13 Surprise Win by Harlequins! 21 Seven-a-side Competition! 23 Changes! (1960 to 1969)! 27 The Touring Years (1970 to 1940)! 45 Visiting Harlequins thrash locals! 47 Wasted! 47 Late Try! 47 Harlequins! 56 ‘Quins’ ﬁnd a winner! 57 Male Voice Choir! 67 Victorian Rugby Union News! 78 Harlequin Veterans Tournament! 78 Veterans’ Victory! 78 Rugby News (NSW)! 79 Vol 57, No. 4 April 28,1979! 79 The Club House! 85 The Transition Years (1980 to 1989)! 99 Stolen! 100 The Changing Rooms! 129 The Inevitable Move to a more Professional Game (1990 to 2004)! 133 Obituary! 138 Rugby Legend Passes to Higher Field! 140 Page 1 of 158 Quins Down Under Author’s Notes! 157 Chapter Writers! 158 Rod Abbott! 158 Mark Baxter! 158 David Bray! 158 Neil Carter! 158 David Elias! 158 Charlie Grieve! 158 Stan Shaw! 158 Page 2 of 158 Quins Down Under Introduction Looking at rugby union today in the 21st century with Super 14, Tri and Six Nations competitions and total professionalism at the highest levels it is difficult to imagine founding a Rugby Club in Melbourne towards the end of the so-called "roaring twenties". Rugby was named after the Rugby School in England where, according to the famous plaque, "William Webb Ellis with a fine disregard for the rules of football as played in his time first took the ball in his arms and ran with it thus originating the distinctive feature of the rugby game AD 1823". Whilst rugby historians argue as to whether William Webb Ellis did in fact, at that particular moment in time, run with the ball for the first time and define the new game, it is certainly true Old Robians have had a huge impact on the development and propagation of the game of rugby. Indeed England still plays in the colours of Rugby School and formally requests the School's approval to do so every season. After the schism in 1895 in the north of England over payment for lost time, professional Rugby League and amateur Rugby Union established two distinct codes in England, France and Australia. By 1928 Rugby Union was well established in Australia. In Queens land and New South Wales it was played at the highest level. In Victoria, however, then as now, rugby was a minor football code hardly known in that State, famous for its own Australian Rules Football game. Rugby in Victoria has in fact had rather a chequered history. The Melbourne Rugby Union was founded in 1888 with early matches being played between teams from North of the Yarra and South of the Yarra. In 1894 a New South Wales team came to Melbourne to play Victoria and was beaten 3-0, while the first Victorian team travelled to Sydney to play New South Wales in 1899, truly colonial matches as the Commonwealth of Australia was not yet in existence. The Melbourne Rugby Union folded in 1890, and rugby was not played in an organised way again until the formation of the Victorian Rugby Union in 1909 with the founding clubs: Melbourne, South Melbourne, East Melbourne, St Kilda and University. Despite the enthusiasm for the game it was a difficult time for rugby and many employers sacked rugby players for not playing Australian Rules Football. The rugby competition was suspended during the First World War and, due to the difficulties, did not resume until 1923 and then in fewer numbers. The Melbourne Rugby Union competition in 1928 was devoutly amateur and played according to the purest "corinthian" ideals. Even today true believers consider rugby to be "the game they play in heaven", and there are almost religious aspects to the devotion of some people to rugby. In England it was always thought to be the game for hooligans played by gentlemen, while soccer was the game for gentlemen played by hooligans. Australia, however, has fortunately never "enjoyed" the class distinction between players of rugby union and other football codes as there was in England. In fact, in England it was not until the professional era in the nineteen nineties that the middle class ethos, which sought to exclude the working class from the control of the game was finally changed. It is, however, true to say that the majority of rugby players in Melbourne in 1928 were professional men. The "corinthian" ideals have been an enduring basis for the playing and enjoyment of rugby union since its earliest beginnings. Even now, with an elite level of highly paid professional players, all parties to the game (players, clubs, associations, officials and sponsors) at all levels recognise the importance of that special rugby heritage and are trying to combine the tradition of the old with the excitement of the new. For those players in Melbourne in the late twenties rugby was a great way to meet like-minded people with a common interest. For newly arrived migrants it was an immediate entry to a sporting and social community, where they felt comfortable. Despite its minority sporting status in Melbourne rugby did attract "converts" from other football codes-particularly Australian Rules where skills in marking and kicking transferred easily to rugby. Many were attracted by the fierceness of the contest on the field, which was immediately forgotten with the final whistle and followed by sharing drinks and the singing of ribald rugby songs. Even that strange rugby habit of calling the referee "sir", and accepting the decision without dissent (which still occurs today at international level), was found attractive by the converts. It is interesting that such behaviour has been maintained to the present day in rugby- a violent sport -whilst in cricket, once the most gentlemanly of sports, player behaviour at the highest level has deteriorated so badly. Perhaps scrums should be introduced to cricket! Page 3 of 158 Quins Down Under During its 75 years of existence The Melbourne Harlequin Club has changed, as has rugby, as has society and as has Melbourne, but throughout those years certain values and ideals have stayed constant. The seven (or were there thirteen!) men who founded The Harlequin Club in Melbourne in 1928 could not have foreseen what the club has become now and how it became so, but they would probably be satisfied and - in a most understated way - proud. Rather special bonds and relationships have held the club together. Despite very little success on the field for the first ten years and only intermittent glory thereafter Harlequins have managed to become and remain a marvellous sporting club. Opinionated members and officials have argued, sulked, resigned but have never weakened the basic strength of the club. In the following chapters we shall look at the development of The Harlequin Club from its 1928 start to the present. We shall see how it has changed to meet: the demographic and societal developments in Melbourne, the globalisation and professionalisation of the game and, above all, the impact a rich selection of characters and oddballs have had on The Harlequin Club and how that impact was reciprocated. We are fortunate to have the comprehensive album compiled by the late Ron Bolton, which records the first 50 years of the club. It contains a wealth of photographs, newspaper cuttings, fixture lists, correspondence and statistics, without which the writing of this story would have been almost impossible. The chapters of the book have been written by a group of Harlequin club members and reflect their take on the club’s history during those periods. As a consequence of this we see the various club eras through different eyes. The Early Years (1928 to 1940) There are some inconsistencies about the true origins of the club. In the first history of The Harlequin Football Club of London, published in 1954, the author H.B.T. Wakelam wrote that our Harlequin Club was founded in August 1928 by seven men: C.J.A. Moses, D.Baker, G.A.Thomas, C.A.Davis, J.Stewart-Malir, D.J.S.Brewin and W.Taverner in the bar of the now defunct London Tavern. According to our research the first meeting of the proposed Overseas Rugby Club was held on the 7th September 1928 at the Amateur Sports Club, Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. An extract of the Minutes of that meeting records. Present: • D.J.S.Brewin • S.S.Brown • J.Christopher • C.A.Davis • W.Marwood • W.Matthew • C.J.A.Moses • W.B.H.Rae • D.C.Sparks • J.J.Stewart-Malir • W.Taverner • J.Taylor(snr) • S.Weeks • Members of the Victorian Rugby Union who attended the meeting were ◦ M.G. (Bert) Penwill ◦ R.Lane (Vice President) The Meeting discussed the name of the new Club. Mr Stewart-Malir proposed the name "HARLEQUINS", a membership fee of one guinea and the players supplying their own jerseys. The Harlequins name was selected because of its essentially “Britishness” or perhaps more accurately “Englishness”. The parent club of this now global family of clubs, which can be found on almost every continent, was formed in 1867 as the Hampstead Club and changed its name to the Harlequins in 1870. The change of name hints at the club’s early nomadic history where Page 4 of 158 Quins Down Under they found themselves playing home matches throughout London, even venturing as far to the east as Catford. Legend has it that the Harlequin name was decided under a Hampstead street light in the early hours of the morning after an evening of carousing.

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