Gateway to Grade 100 years of Cabramatta Rugby League Football Club Gateway Home of The Two Blues to Grade Cabramatta Rugby League Club 24 Sussex Street, Cabramatta New South Wales 2166 Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The First Game to Grade The first game was played 7 June 1919 against Liverpool Pewits. Cabra-Vale won 8-3. The players weight was restricted to under 54 Kg. Article from Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Saturday 14 June 1919 Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway President of The Club to Grade Alderman George Stimson was the first president of the club which was called Cabra-Vale United Football Club. Vice presidents included four other aldermen including the Mayor of Cabramatta & Canley Vale Jacob Cook. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The Club Colours to Grade The club colours were royal and sky blue. Its home ground originally was Cabravale Park. In 1947, the club moved to Lunn’s Paddock, a dairy on what is now Sussex Street Cabramatta. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The Hey Brothers to Grade The Hey family lived on Pritchard Street, Mount Pritchard in 1926. They then moved to John St Cabramatta. Hey family Cabramatta Dave standing on left, Vic sitting on right Courtesy Fairfield City Open Libraries, Heritage Collection In 1925, Dave Hey played for the club and was the clubs first 1st Grade player, playing with Wests in 1926. Vic Hey c.1930s Courtesy State Library Queensland Vic Hey Courtesy thebulldogs.com.au In the late 40’s, early 50’s A-Grade was coached by league great, Vic Hey, the brother of Dave Hey. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The Premiership Team to Grade The clubs first Premiership team was B Grade in 1921 losing only 1 game and undefeated in 1922. Cabra-Vale United Football Club 1922 Courtesy of Fairfield City Open Libraries Heritage Collection In 1931, The C Grade lost its semifinal spot when they went to the wrong ground in the last round, the Local paper had printed it wrong. The rules stated that teams check the paper for grounds and times. Cabramatta and District Rugby League Football Club, 1947 A Grade Premiers Courtesy of Fairfield City Open Libraries Heritage Collection The club did not field any teams from 1942 to 1945 because of WWII. The Club returned to the field in 1946 with A,B & C-Grades and were A Grade premiers in 1947. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway 1957 A Grade finals to Grade Rugby League Southern District Junior News, 1957 Courtesy Fairfield City Open Libraries, Heritage Collection. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Top Scorers to Grade Barry Shearer, a fast winger or centre, still holds the club’s point scoring record in A Grade. He scored 58 points in a game against Westmead in 1963. Played on the club’s home ground of Lunn’s Paddock, they won the game 106-2. Graham Murray scored 10 tries for Cabramatta in one game. A Cabramatta junior, he played Presidents Cup with Parramatta in 1975. Graham then turned to coaching. He was named head coach of the Roosters in 2000 and the NSW City Origin coach from 2001 to 2005. In 2010 Murray was appointed as the head coach of the Australia women’s national rugby league team, the Australian Jillaroos. Courtesy of Naparazzi Deeply respected by all in NRL, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/ he sadly passed away in 2013. by-sa/2.0/ Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Head Coach to Grade The club’s head coach is a former player for Wests and Parramatta. Chris Yates has been both a Premiership winning captain and coach with the club’s Ron Massey Cup team. Courtesy of Cabramatta Rugby League Football Club He is arguably said to be one of the top and most successful coaches working outside of the NRL. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Geoff Gerard to Grade Gerard played junior football with Cabramatta Two Blues and became their first Australian Test player. He joined Parramatta in 1974 and was selected for the 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France. He was later selected for a test match in 1983 against New Zealand. Gerard moved to Manly in 1981, Penrith in 1985 and Hull (England) 1986-1987. In 1989 he surpassed Bob O’Reilly’s record number of first grade games (over 300). Geoff Gerard and Graham Murray both played together at Cabramatta. Action shot Geoff Gerard of Manly Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The New Breed to Grade In 2003, The 15’s were undefeated with a 564-133 record. This team contained future Australian Test players Jarryd Hayne and Tony Williams and City representatives Kris Keating and Trent Hodkinson. These three played the same game for NSW, which is the first and only time this has NSW team photo of Jarryd Hayne happened. and Trent Hodkinson https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/ south-west/cabramatta-teammates-share-sto- ries-of-jarryd-hayne-as-a-teen-star/news-story/cf- 321780c38e0fdb6df979debc54c6c5 Under 15’s undefeated premiers 2003 Courtesy CRLFC Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Born and Bred in Fairfield to Grade Nathan Brown Firstly a NSW under 17s representative cricket player Nathan Brown decided playing Rugby League was infinitely better than facing a Pat Cummins fast ball. Playing junior football for Cabramatta, Five Dock RSL and Dundas Shamrocks Nathan went on to play for Wests Tigers, South Sydney Rabbitohs and finally Parramatta Eels. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Past Players to Grade Jarryd Hayne Jacob Gagan Jacob Loko Krisnan Inu Pat Richards Kris Keating Trent Hodkinson Feleti Mateo Kelepi Tanginoa Tony Williams Junior Paulo Kaysa Pritchard Nathan Brown Blake Green Kyle O’Donnell David Riolo Justin Tsoulos Images courtesy of NRL Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway The Motto of the Club to Grade The club has always aimed to play in the highest standard of competition available to it and is proud of its motto GATEWAY TO GRADE. Courtesy of CRLFC To this end the club has worked towards giving the players the best facilities it can fund and are proud to say it has arguably the best set up of any Junior Rugby League club. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition Gateway Renovations to Grade With renovations about to start including the construction of a 500 seat restaurant Cabramatta Rugby League Club is set to become a destination in the area not to be missed. Fairfieldcity Open Libraries Exhibition.