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Reg Date (26 July 1921 – 11 August 1995) was an Australian soccer player who plied his trade after the Second World War. Date played for Wallsend Football Club and Canterbury-Bankstown. He represented Australia in five full international matches, captaining three times.

Early life

Date was born in Wallsend to Nancy and John "Mick" Date. His father was a fisherman at Lemon Tree Passage, where Date lived until the age of eight, when he moved to live in Wallsend with his mother's parents.

Club career

Date went to Plattsburg Public School in Wallsend, being a prolific goalscorer in their youth matches; he even claimed that he had scored a total of 1,616 career goals including junior football, although there is no evidence of such. He made his debut for Wallsend Football Club in 1938 as a 16-year-old. He joined Canterbury-Bankstown in the state league in 1945. Date continued to live in Wallsend, commuting by train every weekend. In 1948, Date returned to Wallsend. In time he was coached by the great Alf Quill, Wallsend Football Club's legendary goalscorer of the inter-war years.

At his peak Date was an incredible goal scorer for Canterbury-Bankstown in the New South Wales Division 1, earning state and international recognition and captaining Australia in three matches against South Africa in a five-game home series against that nation; Date scoring eight goals. He scored another three in two warm-up matches for the 'B' side prior to the official tour.

There was consternation when Date, for whatever reason, was not selected on international tours of New Zealand in 1948 and, most surprisingly, South Africa in 1950, but he did score in a representative match on the national side's return from the Cape for New South Wales against Australia on 2 September 1950 and did appear for the 'B' side in the famous 17–0 defeat to an English XI on 30 June 1951.

Legacy

In 2000, he was selected as a member of the Australian team of the century by respondents to an RSSSF vote, beating Frank Farina into second place for the number 10 shirt.

Later life

Date worked for years running hotels in the Newcastle area. He became the publican of the Queens Arms Hotel in Maitland in 1947, moving to the Ocean View Hotel in Dudley the next year. In 1954, Date took over the Albion Hotel in Wickham, where he worked until his retirement in 1980. In a 2012 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, his Australia teammate Joe Marston rated Date as the best Australian player that he had played with or against, adding, "Great player. Great bloke. But boy he could drink. The selectors, they never liked Reggie. He was too much of a larrikin. They couldn't handle him."

Career statistics

Club

International

List of international goals scored by Reg Date

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	10 May 1947	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia	South Africa	1–0	1–2	Friendly
2	24 May 1947	Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane, Australia	South Africa	1–0	2–4	Friendly
3				2–3
4	31 May 1947	Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia	South Africa	2–1	3–3	Friendly
5				3–1
6	31 May 1947	Newcastle Sports Ground, Newcastle, Australia	South Africa	1–0	5–1	Friendly
7				4–1
8				5–1

Honours

Wallsend

• NSW State League: 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1953
• NSW State League Cup: 1942, 1944, 1950, 1952
• NSW Robinson Cup: 1938, 1939
• NSW Daniels Cup: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1949, 1950, 1951,

Canterbury

• NSW State League: 1945
• NSW State League Cup: 1946
• NSW Sydney Cup: 1946

Individual

• NSW Top Scorer: 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953

References

1. Allen, Peter (2011). "Career Record – Fate plays a hand". Reg Date – The Don Bradman of Football. Mosman, New South Wales: Allen Media Services. p. 270. ISBN 9781875171095. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
2. Cockerill, Michael (27 December 1999). "A Date with destiny". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 39. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
3. "Goal-scorer with heart of pure gold". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 October 1995. p. 49. Archived from the original on 9 August 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
4. ^ Mosely, Philip (2019). "Date, Reginald Thomas (1921–1995)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
5. Allen, Peter (2011). "1921–1928 – Fate plays a hand". Reg Date – The Don Bradman of Football. Mosman, New South Wales: Allen Media Services. p. 41. ISBN 9781875171095. Archived from the original on 8 September 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
6. "Who scored the most goals in history?". 90soccer.com. 31 October 2021. Archived from the original on 14 July 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
7. "DATE GETS CLEARANCE". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. IX, no. 22. New South Wales, Australia. 11 April 1948. p. 23. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
8. "Soccer record claimed". The Sun. No. 13288. New South Wales, Australia. 10 September 1952. p. 35 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
9. Davidson, John (2 April 2015). "The forgotten story of... Reg Date, the Don Bradman of football in Australia". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
10. Howe, Andrew (12 October 2006). "The Australian National Men's Football Team: Caps and Captains" (PDF). Football Federation Australia. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via OzFootball.
11. "Australia v England, 30 June 1951". www.11v11.com. Archived from the original on 4 August 2016. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
12. "Australia Vs England 1951". 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
13. Krüger, André. "Australia - Team of the Century". RSSSF.com. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived from the original on 31 January 2023. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
14. Cronshaw, Damon (26 July 2017). "How Reg Date played peacemaker at Wickham, when Malcolm Fraser met the Queen". Newcastle Herald. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
15. Cockerill, Michael (5 April 2012). "Tough as old boots and now he's a living legend". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 7 May 2021. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
16. "Trove". trove.nla.gov.au. Archived from the original on 29 September 2022.
17. "South African's 2-1 Victory In Soccer Test". The Sun. No. 11, 635. New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1947. p. 6 (FINAL FOOTBALL LASTRACE). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
18. "DATE'S SHOOT-LADDIES SHACKLED". Truth. No. 2461. Queensland, Australia. 25 May 1947. p. 9. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
19. "S.AFRICAN STAGE BRILLIANT RECOVERY FOR DRAW". Truth. No. 2462. Queensland, Australia. 1 June 1947. p. 12. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
20. "Australia Wins Soccer 5-1". The Sun. No. 11, 659. New South Wales, Australia. 7 June 1947. p. 7 (FINAL FOOTBALL LAST RACE). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
21. https://web.archive.org/web/20221221161245/http://www.socceraust.co.uk/NSW/Champions/state.htm
22. Jack Pollard's Soccer Records - Sid Grant. 1974. p. 116.
23. Jack Pollard's Soccer Records - Sid Grant. 1974. p. 117.

External links

• Oz Football profile

• Australian men's soccer players
• Australia men's international soccer players
• 1921 births
• 1995 deaths
• Men's association football forwards
• Soccer players from Newcastle, New South Wales
• 20th-century Australian sportsmen