Arthur 'Pony' Halloway (1885–1961), was a pioneering Australian
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...
footballer and coach. Born in Sydney,
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
he played for the
Glebe Dirty Reds
The Glebe Dirty Reds are an Australian rugby league foundation club which played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League's Sydney premiership, the major competition for the sport in Sydney, from 1908 until their exit at the end of 1929. Th ...
(1908),
Balmain Tigers
The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...
(1909–1911 and 1915–1920) and
Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to:
Places
*Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India
*Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia
**Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia
Sports clubs
;Association football
*Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand
* Eastern ...
(1912–1914), in the
New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership
The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...
. He played for
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
in the first rugby match run by the newly created '
New South Wales Rugby Football League
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...
' which had just split away from the established
New South Wales Rugby Football Union
The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered ...
.
He was a
half-back for the
Australian national team. He played in ten Tests between 1908 and 1919, as captain on three occasions in 1919. Halloway was nicknamed 'Pony', but despite his small stature he was recognised as one of the fiercest competitors to play the game and one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century
Halloway holds the record for the most premierships won as a coach in Australian rugby league history with eight premierships.
Halloway also holds the record for the longest undefeated streak as a coach in Australian rugby league history with 35 games undefeated.
Playing career
Arthur was playing rugby union with
Easts in Sydney when the defections to rugby league commenced in 1908. He was recruited by the Glebe club after taking part in the rebel series against
Baskerville's New Zealand '
All Golds'.
[Whiticker pp53-56] Late in the 1908 season Halloway was selected to go away on the inaugural
Kangaroo Tour
Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...
. He played in 29 matches on tour including the 1st Anglo-Australian Test in London.
Earlier that year Halloway made his Test debut in Australia's 14–9 win in the 3rd Test in Sydney in 1908, the third international league fixture in which Australia took part.
The arrival of the second wave of
Wallaby
A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...
defectors in 1909 pushed Halloway down the representative pecking order and for the next five years he maintained a regular rivalry for the Australian half-back position with former Wallaby captain
Chris McKivat
Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests ...
.
In 1910 Halloway moved to the Balmain club for three seasons, from where he also continued his representative career, making his second
Kangaroo tour in 1911. He played in twelve tour matches but no Tests with McKivat the preferred Test half-back.
He joined the Eastern Suburbs club 1912 where he won back to back premierships in 1912 and 1913 as well as being a member of the
City Cup
The City Cup was a rugby league competition involving Australian premiership teams. The post season tournament was a regular feature in the years 1912–1925. City Cups were also played in 1937, 1942 and 1959.
The inaugural city cup was contested ...
Winning Side in 1914.
Following
Chris McKivat
Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests ...
's retirement he became the preferred half back in the
1914 Ashes series.
Halloway returned to Balmain in 1915 where he won further premierships in 1915, 1916 (scoring his team's only try in the final), 1917, 1919 and 1920 as captain and captain-coach from 1916.
Australian captain
His first appearance as captain of the
Kangaroos
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
was on the 1919 tour of New Zealand when he captained the side to a 2–1 tour victory. Throughout his playing career Halloway played in over 100 representative matches, including ten tests for Australia. He made over thirty appearances for New South Wales as well as one for Queensland
after he moved there in 1921.
He was the only man to be part of all of Australia's first three tours – the first two
Kangaroo tour
Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...
s and the 1919 trip to New Zealand. Along with
Billy Cann
Wiliam A. Cann (1882–1958) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s who later wrote for ''The Sydney Morning Herald''. A New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales state and Australia national rugby league tea ...
,
Dan Frawley
Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of t ...
and
Tedda Courtney
Ed "Tedda" Courtney (1885–1957) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played club football for North Sydney, Western Suburbs and representative football for the New South Wales state and Australian national sides. ...
he was one of four men to make all three of the tours made between 1908 and 1912 by Australian or New South Welsh teams.. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as ''Kangaroo No. 21.''
Character and playing style
The story is recounted of him chopping off a finger in a work related accident one Saturday morning, then leading his club side, Balmain, to victory that afternoon with his hand swathed in a blood-stained bandage.
Halloway was a consummate team man, a sound defender and an opportunistic half-back capable of opening up an opposition worn down by heavy forward clashes with impeccable service to his outside backs.
Coaching career
After retirement as a player he coached in the country league at
Parkes Parkes may refer to:
* Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation
Named for Henry Parkes
* Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town
* Parkes Observatory, a radi ...
, then
Lismore and also the Newtown club for a season in 1923.
He returned to Sydney in the 1930s and won three premierships as coach of the Roosters from 1935 to 1937. He coached
Norths from 1940 to 1941;
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
in 1948 and won another premiership coaching Easts in 1945.
An article on Arthur Halloway appeared in the ''
Sydney Morning Herald
''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper i ...
'' on 14 August 1945 – shortly before he brought up his 11th premiership as a player and/or coach.
Accolades
All up Pony Halloway went on four overseas playing tours. He won seven premierships as a player and four as a coach. He stands as Balmain's most successful all time coach winning 79% of the matches in which he guided the club. He was involved in the game at the top level either as player or coach in a career spanning 37 years. He was awarded Life Membership of the
New South Wales Rugby League
The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...
in 1914.
In 2007 he was inducted into the
Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian.
It was officially established in 2002, ...
. In February 2008, Halloway was named in the list of Australia's
''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the
NRL
The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...
and
ARL
ARL may refer to:
Military
* US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship
* Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK
* United States Army Research Laboratory
* ARL 44, a WWII French tank
Organizations
* Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...
to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.
Footnotes
References
* Alan Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players''
* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney
* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney
Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Halloway, Arthur
1885 births
1961 deaths
Australasia rugby league team players
Australia national rugby league team captains
Australia national rugby league team players
Australian rugby league coaches
Australian rugby league players
Balmain Tigers coaches
Balmain Tigers players
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches
Glebe rugby league players
New South Wales rugby league team players
Newtown Jets coaches
North Sydney Bears coaches
Queensland rugby league team players
Rugby league halfbacks
Rugby league players from Sydney
Sydney Roosters coaches
Sydney Roosters players