Arthur John Michael "Mackker" McCabe (23 June 1887 – 30 July 1924) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

and pioneer professional

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 11 ...

footballer. He represented for Australian in

at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Rugby union career

A brilliant fly-half, Mackker McCabe was a member of the Australian rugby union team which won the gold medal with McCabe scoring two tries in the gold medal victory. While he toured the US and England with the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized 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 taxonomic family as kangaroos and so ...

in the lead-up tour prior to the Olympics his gold medal match was his sole Australian representative appearance.

Rugby league career

On his return to Australia he joined the fledgling code of

along with 13 of his Olympic teammates. He played for five seasons with the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

finishing his career with a premiership win in 1914. Despite representing 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 rugby league in 1910 he was unsuccessful in his bid to become a dual-code rugby international. For the season

1910 Events January * January 13 – The first public radio broadcast takes place; live performances of the operas '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and ''Pagliacci'' are sent out over the airwaves, from the Metropolitan Opera House in New York C ...

, he was the NSW Rugby Football League's top try scorer. He was so highly praised by the press, they dubbed him The Will-O'-The-Wisp, a phrase that became synonymous with McCabe.

Death

Arthur McCabe died suddenly of a heart attack at his home in Morehead Street, Redfern on 30 July 1924, age 37. A large funeral was held for 'Mackker' McCabe and was attended by many ex Wallaby players and South Sydney players. He was buried at

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating ...

on 31 July 1924. The Arrow, Sydney 01/08/1924 "Arthur McCabe's Death" - "Brilliant Wallaby Five-Eighth" (page 10)

Footnotes

References

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'', Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

External links