Arthur Hennessy

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Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy (born 24 September 1876) was the first captain of the Australian national rugby league team. He began his first grade career playing rugby union for Souths in 1901. Hennessy represented New South Wales in 1901, 1902 and 1904, and in 1907 was made Souths' captain.

When the New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907, Hennessy joined rugby league and was selected as the first New South Wales captain. In October of that year Hennessy chaired a meeting of rugby union identities with a view to creating a South Sydney rugby league club. The club was formed on 17 January 1908 and Hennessy was the inaugural captain-coach.

In 1908 he played two Tests against New Zealand as captain, both of which Australia lost.

Hennessy stands as a monumental figure in the South 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, convening the meeting., Because of that day and the events that followed, he can be fairly rated as the club’s founder. A rugby league pioneer in the twilight of the game’s earliest days, 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: That if you pass the ball often enough and move forward with supports, the defence must eventually crack and you’ll score tries. Souths lived that creed through glorious eras and for much of the club’s life – although the arrival of the limited tackle rule in 1967 inevitably changed the way the game was played.

A breakaway, and later hooker in rugby union (with Souths), when in 1902 Hennessy represented against New Zealand, the All Blacks mistook him for a halfback as he lacked the size they deemed necessary for a forward. His enthusiastic foraging and tackling soon changed Kiwi minds.

For rugby league, Hennessy’s place in the scheme of things is nothing less than extraordinary. When the new game of Northern Union (rugby league) arrived in Australia in the late winter of 1907, he enthusiastically stepped on board and when the New Zealand All Golds came to play the first of their historic three-game series against the locals at the Agricultural Ground (Sydney Showground) in August 1907, he was the NSW captain and coach. The games were played under rugby union rules as no one had a copy of the new code’s laws. Hennessy subsequently read the rule book which arrived in Australia and declared: “This is a game for racehorses”.

Along with his fellow pioneers Hennessy was prepared to accept the ill-will that accompanied the splitting of the rugby code. “You had to take it on the chin and give it on the chin,” he said. “Many good friendships tumbled to dust when we switched football codes.”

In 1908, he was Souths’ first hooker and, with Billy Cann, one of the club’s first two delegates to the NSW Rugby League. In that foundation season had the honour of captaining Australia in its first ever rugby league Test – against New Zealand. He won a place in the first Kangaroo touring team that season – but had a luckless campaign. Battling with his teammates through a brutal UK winter, he broke his jaw twice in matches – and played only seven games on tour.

Hennessy devoted much of his life to his beloved Souths. In 1929-30 he had the honour of being coach-masseur of the Kangaroos, who due to Chimpy Busch’s controversial`no-try’ at Swinton, were unlucky not to bring home the Ashes. He was a man of diverse talents – a football guru who taught rugby (both codes) to a vast range of teams: Souths, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, Waverley College, Parramatta – and Australia’s rugby league Test team. He also taught boxing, and for a time was manager of the lightweight Australian champion Sid Godfrey.

Forty years ago Jack Coyne summed him up this way: “His outstanding coaching ability, his leadership on the field and off, his pertinacity and his personality all combined to make Arthur a redoubtable friend and an implacable opponent.” Coyne made the point that for a footballer to survive the challenges that emerged in rugby league’s early days, he had to be “a big man, in heart, courage and stature”.

Undoubtedly Ash Hennessy scored highly on the required qualities. He ranks as one of Souths’ Great Men …… a major influence and driving force in all that the club was to become.

[edit] Rugby League Playing Records

• Club: South Sydney Rabbitohs (1908-11) 26 games, 7 tries, 1 goal; Eastern Suburbs (1909) 3 matches.
• Representative: Australia (1908), New South Wales (1908)

[edit] Sources

Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney