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Arthur Hennessy

Personal information
Full name	Arthur Stephen Hennessy
Born	24 September 1876 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	19 September 1959(1959-09-19) (aged 82) Maroubra, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Height	5 ft 8 in (173 cm)
Weight	12 st 6 lb (79 kg; 174 lb)
Rugby union
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1901–07 South Sydney Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1901–07 New South Wales
Rugby league
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1908–09 South Sydney 6 2 0 0 6 1909 Easts (Sydney) 4 0 0 0 0 1910–11 South Sydney 20 7 1 0 23 Total 30 9 1 0 29 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1907–08 New South Wales 3 0 0 0 0 1908 Australia 2 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1908 South Sydney 1918 South Sydney 14 12 0 2 86 1946 South Sydney 14 0 0 14 0 Total 28 12 0 16 43 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1913–13 New South Wales 1929–30 Australia 1930 New Zealand 0 0 0 0

Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy (24 September 1876 – 19 September 1959) was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a seminal figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played and later coached. He was a state and national representative hooker/forward and was the first captain of the Australian national rugby league team. He played for New South Wales in the first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union. He later coached at club, state and national representative levels.

Background

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Hennessy played his junior rugby football in the centres for the Boys Brigade in 1895. He then played for Bayview in 1896 and became a South Sydney junior.

Rugby union career

By 1901 Hennessy was a regular first grade rugby union player for Souths. He represented New South Wales in 1901, 1902 and 1904, and he was a rugby union coach at The King's School, Sydney in 1905. A flanker, 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. In 1907 he was made Souths' captain.

Rugby league career

Playing

When the New Zealand All Golds toured in 1907, Hennessy joined the breakaway New South Wales Rugby Football League and was selected as the new code's first New South Wales captain. In October of that year Hennessy chaired a meeting of rugby 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. 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." Hennessy stands as a monumental figure in the South Sydney story. It was at his home at 9 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.

In 1908, Hennessy was Souths' first hooker and, with Billy Cann, one of the club's first two delegates to the New South Wales Rugby Football League. He coached Souths in their 1908 NSWRFL season's final. In that foundation season he also had the honour of captaining Australia in its first ever rugby league Test – against New Zealand. Hennessy played in both Tests in May against New Zealand as captain, both of which Australia lost. Hennessy was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was the debut match of the Australia national rugby league team. He is listed in the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 1. In July of that inaugural season he made another representative appearance captaining New South Wales in a 43-0 whitewash of Queensland in the first ever Australian interstate match.

Hennessy won a place on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of 1908–09, but came under criticism since he also doubled as a selector. He suffered a luckless campaign. Battling with his teammates through the British winter, his jaw was broken and then his cheekbone in minor matches and he played only seven games on tour. In 1909 Hennessy made three appearances for the Eastern Suburbs club, including that year's semi-final against Balmain in which he was named as captain.

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".

Coaching

As coach at South Sydney 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: If you pass the ball often enough and move forward with supports, the defence must eventually crack and you will 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. He was a man of diverse talents – a football guru who taught rugby (both codes) to a range of teams, at a number of levels: Souths, Saint Ignatius' College, Riverview, Waverley College, The King's School – as well as Country, State and Australia's national representative sides. He also taught boxing, and for a time was manager of the Australian lightweight champion Sid Godfrey.

In 1913 he coached a New South Wales side on a tour of New Zealand and was ahead of his time in introducing a steak-only protein diet on match days. Hennessy was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914. Hennessy was South Sydney's coach for the 1918 NSWRFL season.

Hennessy joined the 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain as coach-masseur of the Australians, who due to Chimpy Busch's controversial 'no-try' at Swinton, were unlucky not to bring home the Ashes.

In 1930 he served as the coach of New Zealand in their tour of Australia.

Hennessy was South Sydney's coach for the 1946 NSWRFL season.

Later life

Living at Maroubra in Sydney's south-eastern beaches Hennessy became something of a local entrepreneur in later life, investing in the Maroubra speedway; opening a mini-golf course and owning the local cinema. He lived there in a cottage opposite the theatre until his death in 1959, 5 days short of his 83rd birthday. He is buried in Botany cemetery.

References

1. ^ Whiticker pp11-14
2. "The Slighted 'Souths' – Sportsman's Letter Box". Sydney Sportsman. 5 June 1907. p. 8. Retrieved 30 December 2017 – via Trove.
3. ARL Annual Report 2005
4. ^ Apter The Coaches: The Men Who Changed Rugby League ISBN 9781743465660
5. Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8

Published Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Apter, Jeff The Coaches : The Men Who Changed Rugby League (2014), The Five Mile Press Scoresby, Victoria

External links

• Arthur Hennessy at the Online Dictionary of Australian Biographies

Sporting positions
Preceded byEric Lewis 1945	Coach South Sydney 1946	Succeeded byDavid Watson 1947−1949
Preceded byunknown	Coach Australia 1929-1930	Succeeded byunknown
Preceded byJohn Rosewell 1913	Coach South Sydney 1918	Succeeded byOwen McCarthy 1924
Preceded by	Coach South Sydney 1908	Succeeded byJohn Rosewell 1913
Preceded byinaugural	Captain Australia 1908	Succeeded byDenis Lutge

Coaching positions

v t e Australian national rugby league team coaches 1930 Arthur Hennessy 1946 Albert Johnston 1948–49 Col Maxwell 1949 Len Smith 1949 Keith Froome 1950–51 Vic Hey 1952–53 Clive Churchill 1954–55 Vic Hey 1956–57 Ken Kearney 1957 Herbert Poole 1958 Norm Robinson 1959–60 Clive Churchill 1960 Keith Barnes 1961 Brian Carlson 1962 Harry Bath 1963 Clive Churchill 1963–64 Arthur Summons 1964 Reg Gasnier 1965–66 Ian Walsh 1967–68 Reg Gasnier 1968–70 Harry Bath 1970 Arthur Summons 1971–72 Harry Bath 1973–75 Graeme Langlands 1975–77 Terry Fearnley 1978–82 Frank Stanton 1983 Arthur Beetson 1984 Frank Stanton 1985 Terry Fearnley 1986–88 Don Furner 1989–98 Bob Fulton 1997 John Lang (SL) 1998 Wayne Bennett 1999–03 Chris Anderson 2004–05 Wayne Bennett 2006–08 Ricky Stuart 2009–15 Tim Sheens 2016– Mal Meninga v t e New Zealand national rugby league team coaches 1912-20 George A. Gillett 1921-24 Jim Rukutai 1925 Charlie Pearce 1926-27 Ernest Mair 1928 Thomas McClymont 1930-31 Arthur Hennessy 1932-37 Bill Kelly 1938-52 Thomas McClymont 1952-54 Jim Amos 1955-56 Harold Tetley 1956-57 Bill Telford 1959-60 Travers Hardwick 1961 Des White 1961-63 Bill Telford 1964-65 Maurie Robertson 1965 Bill Telford 1966-67 Lory Blanchard 1968 Des Barchard 1969 Lory Blanchard 1970 Morrie Church 1970-72 Lory Blanchard 1972 Des Barchard 1974-75 George Menzies 1977-78 Ron Ackland 1979-82 Ces Mountford 1983-86 Graham Lowe 1987-89 Tony Gordon 1990-91 Bob Bailey 1992-93 Howie Tamati 1995-96 Frank Endacott 1997 Graeme Norton 1998-00 Frank Endacott 2001-02 Gary Freeman 2004-05 Daniel Anderson 2005-07 Brian McClennan 2007 Gary Kemble 2008-16 Stephen Kearney 2016-17 David Kidwell 2018-23 Michael Maguire 2024-present Stacey Jones

• 1876 births
• 1959 deaths
• Australia national rugby league team captains
• Australia national rugby league team coaches
• Australia national rugby league team players
• Australian rugby league administrators
• Australian rugby league coaches
• Australian rugby league players
• Australian rugby union coaches
• Australian rugby union players
• Burials at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park
• New South Wales rugby league team players
• New South Wales rugby union team players
• New Zealand national rugby league team coaches
• Rugby league hookers
• Rugby league players from Sydney
• South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches
• South Sydney Rabbitohs players
• Sydney Roosters players
• South Sydney Rabbitohs captains
• Footballers who switched code