Benny Wearing (11 June 1901 – 9 April 1968) was an 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1920s and 1930s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative three-quarter, he played his club football in the

NSWRFL 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 Sou ...

for South Sydney. Wearing was the third player in Australian rugby league history to score 100 premiership tries.

Playing career

Wearing was a prodigious try-scoring wing three-quarter and scored all of Souths' 12 points in their grand final loss in 1923. He then went on to play a major part in South Sydney's 7 premiership victories between 1925 and 1932. For the seasons

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

and

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

he was the NSW Rugby League's top point scorer and in three consecutive seasons from

1926 Events January * January 3 – Theodoros Pangalos declares himself dictator in Greece. * January 8 **Abdul-Aziz ibn Saud is crowned King of Hejaz. ** Crown Prince Nguyễn Phúc Vĩnh Thuy ascends the throne, the last monarch of Viet ...

he was the League's top try scorer, a feat only ever achieved by two other players – Gordon Wright in the 1920s and

Nathan Blacklock Nathan Blacklock (born 4 April 1976) is an Australian former professional rugby league and, briefly, rugby union footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australia national rugby league representative , he played for the Sydney City Ro ...

1999 to 2001. Having been representing New South Wales since 1924, Wearing debuted for Australia in the 3rd

dead rubber Dead rubber is a term used in sporting parlance to describe a match in a series where the series result has already been decided by earlier matches. The dead rubber match therefore has no effect on the winner and loser of the series, other than the ...

Test of 1928 against the touring British Lions side. He scored two tries and kicked three goals to help Australia to a 21 to 14 victory at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Despite of that contribution and good club form in 1929, he was overlooked by selectors for the 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. Wearing is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 150. Wearing retired having played 173 first grade games for Souths between 1921 and 1933 which stood as the club record till

Jack Rayner Rupert John Raynor (11 April 1921 – 17 May 2008) was an Australian state and national representative rugby league player and NSWRFL coach. His club playing career was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 1946 to 1957 and he also represented ...

eclipsed it in the late 1950s. He scored 836 points for the Rabbitohs (144 tries and 202 goals) which stood as the club record for several decades. His 144 career tries for the Rabbitohs stood as the club record for over eight decades until it was broken in 2014 by

Nathan Merritt Nathan Merritt (born 26 May 1983) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 2000s and 2010s. A New South Wales State of Origin representative , he played in the National Rugby League for the South Sydney Rab ...

when he scored his 145th try in an 18–2 victory over the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrit ...

Accolades

In February 2008, Wearing was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL 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.

Playing career

Accolades

References

Further reading