Tedda Courtney

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Tedda Courtney**
Personal information
Australian national rugby league player
Full name	Joseph Edward Courtney
Date of birth	1883
Date of death	July 23, 1957
Place of death	Lakemba, New South Wales,
Nickname(s)	Tedda
Relatives	Edward (son)
Club information
Position(s)	Forward
Current club	Deceased
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1908 1910 1909,1911-24	Newtown North Sydney Western Suburbs	7 (3) 12 (9) 161 (109)
Representative teams
1908-15 1908-14	New South Wales Australia	9 (6) 11 (3)
Professional clubs coached
1930 1935	North Sydney Canterbury Bankstown
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Ted "Tedda" Courtney (1883-1957) was a pioneer Australian rugby league player for the North Sydney Bears, Western Suburbs Magpies and a representative in New South Wales state and Australian national sides.

Born in Sydney, Australia Courtney was one of six brothers who all played for North Sydney. His brothers Reg and Bob died in WWI. He was a wharfie throughout his working life and was renowned for his fearless tackling style and ability to harass the opposition with his defence.

1 Rugby union
2 Rugby league career
3 Accolades
4 References

[edit] Rugby union

Courtney played rugby union for North Sydney and for St George. He was one of the group of New South Wales rugby union players who played against Baskerville's All Golds on their seminal trip to the United Kingdom in 1907 which started rugby league in Australia and New Zealand. He played in the second of the three exhibition matches; was promptly banned from amatuer rugby union thereafter and the following year was given a vote of thanks by being made a lifetime member of the New South Wales Rugby League.

[edit] Rugby league career

Courney joined Newtown in 1908 in the professional code, moved to Wests in 1909 and the North Sydney in 1910. He found his club home back at Wests in 1911 where he played the next thirteen seasons amassing a career total of 304 games.

He was selected on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of 1908-09 appearing in all three Tests and in a total of thirty-one games on tour on which he was the top-scoring forward with 10 tries. He made a second Kangaroo tour in 1911-12 in which he made twenty five match appearances. He played in three other Test series against Great Britain at home in 1910 and 1914 and against New Zealand in 1909.

On June 14, 1924 when Courtney was 39 he played in a game for Wests against Glebe alongside his son, Ed junior. It remains the only time a father and son combination has played together in a Sydney first grade game. Courtney retired at the end of 1924 and returned to the district of his football beginnings - North Sydney. He coached the lower grades for some years and coached first grade in 1930.

[edit] Accolades

In February 2008, Courtney was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. ^[1]