Pat Walsh (rugby) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

For the former All Black, see Pat Walsh (rugby union)

Patrick Bernard "Nimmo" Walsh (3 May 1879 – 22 May 1953) was a pioneer Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n representative rugby union

Rugby union

Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...

and rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

player, a dual-code international, who saw active duty with the Australian Imperial Force

Australian Imperial Force

The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...

in the first World War. He represented the Wallabies in three Tests in 1904 and the Kangaroos

Australian national rugby league team

The Australian national rugby league team have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League, the Kangaroos' are ranked number one in the RLIF World Rankings...

in three Tests on the first tour of Great Britain in 1908-09.

In Australia

Born in 1879 at Cook's Hill, Newcastle, New South Wales

Cooks Hill, New South Wales

Cooks Hill is an inner city suburb of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. It is typified by its tree lined streets, rows of Victorian terrace housing, turn of the century timber cottages and corner pubs.-Description:...

he played rugby for the Norwood and Carlton clubs usually as a backrower and at times at fly-half.

In 1899 Walsh represented Northern District (Newcastle & Hunter) against the first touring British team in a match at Newcastle.

In 1903 he represented Combined Country against Metropolis (Sydney City) and Combined Country against New Zealand. He also represented New South Wales

New South Wales Rugby Union

The New South Wales Rugby Union is the organisation responsible for the sport of rugby union in most of the state of New South Wales, Australia...

against Queensland

Queensland Rugby Union

The Queensland Rugby Union is the governing body for rugby union in Queensland. It is a member and founding union of the Australian Rugby Union.-See also:*Queensland Reds*Australian Rugby Union*The Wallabies*Rugby union in Queensland...

that year.

In 1904 he again represented Northern District against the touring British team and also represented New South Wales. He scored NSW's first try against Queensland and NSW's first try against the visiting British side in Sydney. That year he made his Wallaby

Australia national rugby union team

The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...

debut as a number 8, playing in all three Tests against the touring British.

In 1905 he represented NSW against Queensland. The rugby public were surprised when he missed selection for the national side to New Zealand. "Walsh's exclusion is simply a Chinese Puzzle".

Australian rules spell

Disappointed he left Australia, first going to Johannesburg, South Africa where he was Vice Captain of the Commonwealth football team, premiers in the 1905 Australian Football League Competition. That trophy is currently held at the Australian Gallery of Sport and Olympic Museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne and is home to the Melbourne Cricket Club. It is the tenth largest stadium in the world, the largest in Australia, the largest stadium for playing cricket, and holds the world record for the highest light...

. In 1905 Australian Rules football was played in Australia, New Zealand and South Africa.

Rugby union in New Zealand

In 1906 he moved to Auckland, New Zealand to play rugby for Parnell in the Auckland competition which featured many 1905 All Blacks

All Blacks

The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....

who had toured Great Britain sweeping all before them aside from a sole loss to Wales

Welsh Rugby Union

The Welsh Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Wales, recognised by the International Rugby Board.The union's patron is Queen Elizabeth II, and her grandson Prince William of Wales became the Vice Royal Patron of the Welsh Rugby Union as of February 2007.-History:The roots of the...

.

In 1907 Walsh was chosen in the Auckland representative team to tour Southland New Zealand. In 1908 he Played for Auckland's City club, gaining an impressive reputation. "On Saturday's play Walsh stood out as being the best player in the Senior Grade Competition. He secured three tries"; "Walsh was the star of the forward division, not even being overshadowed by H.Hayward"; "...the outstanding men in the front division being Walsh (the best forward on the ground) Seeling, Herring and J.Magee.". He looked set for All Black selection.

A cablegram from J.J.Giltinan offering the prospects of a Tour to Great Britain as a member of the pioneer Kangaroo

Australian national rugby league team

rugby league side lured him back to Australia.

Rugby league career

On return to Australia after spending the last three years in New Zealand Walsh played his first rugby league

Rugby league

match for Queensland against New South Wales. He played for the Newcastle club

Newcastle Rebels

Newcastle were a rugby league team who played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1908–1909, one of the nine foundation clubs. After the formation of several clubs in January 1908, members of the NSWRFL came to Newcastle to hold talks with the local footballing community...

in the 1908 New South Wales Rugby Football League season. He gained National selection for the inaugural 1908/09 Kangaroo Tour.

He travelled to England in a second ship (the Salamis) and was reported to have brought the live kangaroo mascot with him.

He played in all three Tests of the tour as a Front Rower. His rugby league international debut in the 1st Test of 1908 in London along with Alex Burdon

Alex Burdon

Alexander "Alex" Burdon was a pioneer Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer - a dual-code rugby international....

saw them collectively become Australia's eighth and ninth dual code rugby internationals.
Pat Walsh played 29 Matches on the Tour scoring 9 Tries.
J.J.Giltinan 'Considered him the Finest Forward in the Northern Union'(Huddersfield rugby News.10 April 1909)

After the Tour he remained in England accepting an offer from the Huddersfield Club

Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....

where he played from 1909 to 1911,building a reputation as one of the finest forwards in England.

On his return to Australia in 1911 he played for Central in the Newcastle Rugby League Competition and he captained the Combined Newcastle & Hunter side which toured Queensland. This team defeated the Queensland state side in all three Matches.
After the tour, Pat Walsh remained in Queensland to coach for the next few years.

Dally Messenger

Dally Messenger

Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger was an Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer, recognised as one of the greatest ever players in either code. Messenger, or 'The Master' as he was dubbed, represented his country in both rugby football codes, playing two rugby union tests and seven...

listed him in his Favourite Team and he was listed in W.A."Billy" Cann's Best Alltime Team in 1938.

:File:P.B. WALSH Rep.Honour Caps.jpg Click this link to view the Honour Caps of Pat Walsh.

Wartime

Pat Walsh enlisted in the AIF during the Great War and served with the 12th Light Horse at Gallipoli

Gallipoli

The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...

and in Egypt and Palestine. His specialist skill was as a farrier, serving with the rank of corporal. He arrived at Gallipoli in the summer of 1915 having left Sydney on HMAT A29 Suevic in June 1915. He was mentioned in despatches by General Allenby

Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby

Field Marshal Edmund Henry Hynman Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby GCB, GCMG, GCVO was a British soldier and administrator most famous for his role during the First World War, in which he led the Egyptian Expeditionary Force in the conquest of Palestine and Syria in 1917 and 1918.Allenby, nicknamed...

for distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty during the Palestine campaign.

During the War he contracted a paralysis to his legs and thereafter walked with the aid of crutches. He died in May 1953.

Sources

Fagan, Sean (2005) The Rugby Rebellion, RL1908, Sydney
Pat Walsh Family archive of Newspaper Match Reports

External links

Footnotes

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