Vic Hey

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Vic Hey
Personal information
Full name Victor Hey
Date of birth 1912
Place of birth Sydney, Australia
Nickname(s) The Human Bullet
Youth clubs
Years Club
Fairfield United, Guildford
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points)
1933–1935
1936
1937
1937–1944
1944–1947
1947
1948–1949
Western Suburbs
Toowoomba
Ipswich
Leeds
Dewsbury
Hunslet
Parramatta
26 (56)
?
145 (219)
?
?
10 (9)
Representative teams
1933–1935
1936
1933–36
New South Wales
Queensland
Australia
11 (27)
4(0)
6 (6)

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only.

Vic Hey (1912–1995) born Liverpool, New South Wales, was an Australian rugby league national and state representative five-eighth and later a successful first-grade and national coach. His Australian club playing career commenced with the Western Suburbs Magpies and concluded with the Parramatta Eels. In between he played for a number of clubs in the English first division.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Western Suburbs

After starring as a schoolboy and playing his junior football with Guildford in western Sydney, Vic Hey was graded with the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1933. In a spectacular rookie season he cemented a first grade club spot and made both his state and national representative debuts. In his second NSWRL season 1934, Hey was a member of Wests' premiership winning side.

[edit] Toowoomba

Moving to Queensland in 1936, Vic Hey briefly played a season for Toowoomba before moving to the UK.

[edit] Leeds

At the end of the Australian 1936 season Hey left for Britain to play club football for Leeds, making his debut against Hunslet on 21 August 1937. He was paid a then record signing fee of £1,400. He appeared in the Championship final in 1938 when Leeds went down to Hunslet. Later success followed when he helped Leeds to successive Challenge Cup wins in 1941 and 1942.

[edit] Dewsbury & Hunslet

Hey was player/coach at Dewsbury from 1944-47, before playing nine times for Hunslet after his ship back to Australia was delayed.

[edit] Parramatta

Vic Hey signed for Parramatta in 1948 in that club's second season in the top grade. He was appointed as the club's captain-coach. He played two seasons 1948 and 1949 before retiring from first grade rugby league at age 37.

[edit] Representative career

Represented both Queensland & New South Wales
Represented both Queensland & New South Wales

[edit] New South Wales

After just 6 first grade appearances with Western Suburbs in 1933, Hey was called up to represent New South Wales. He made a total of 11 appearances for New South Wales between 1933 and 1935, scoring nine tries.

[edit] Queensland

While living in Toowoomba and playing for Ipswich in 1936 Hey represented Queensland in all three matches of that year's interstate representative series.

Australian representative rugby league player
Australian representative rugby league player

[edit] Australia

In his debut 1933-34 season, Hey was a late selection for the Kangaroo tour replacing Ernie Norman who had failed a fitness test. On that tour he played in 23 tour matches and in all three Test matches of the Ashes series against England, partnering his Western Suburbs teammate Les Mead in the halves. On the tour he scored fourteen tries. In 1936, from Queensland he was again selected for all three Test matches of the domestic Ashes series against England.

[edit] Coaching career

Vic Hey coached Parramatta between 1948 and 1953. He went on to coach Canterbury in 1955 and 1956 and later Western Suburbs in 1958 and 1959. He was appointed coach of the Australia national rugby league teamin 1950 and coached his country to their first Ashes victory in thirty years. The following year the French national side defeated Australia in a three Test domestic series. Hey also coached Australia in the 1954 Ashes series which Australia again won. The following year his side lost again to the French and afterwards he decided to resign as the coach of Australia.

[edit] Accolades

For his achievements in rugby league, Vic Hey was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2004.

In February 2008, Hey 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]

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Centenary of Rugby League - The Players. NRL & [[Australian Rugby League|ARL]] (2008-02-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-23.

[edit] References

  • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney