Bob Allison was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s. He played for Canterbury-Bankstown and for Western Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition.

Playing career

Allison made his first grade debut for Wests against Balmain in Round 6 1935 at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

. Western Suburbs would go on to reach the finals in 1935 but were defeated by Eastern Suburbs. Allison played one further season with Wests before leaving at the end of 1936. Due to the residency rules at the time, Allison missed 2 years of playing before signing with Canterbury in 1939. Allison scored a try on debut for the club against Eastern Suburbs and was a member of their City Cup winning team. In 1940, Canterbury reached their second grand final against Eastern Suburbs. Allison played at second-row as Canterbury were defeated 24–14 at the

. The following season, Canterbury finished 2nd in 1941 and reached the final but were once again defeated by Easts 24–22. In 1942, Allison only made 2 appearances for Canterbury and missed out on the club's second premiership victory over

St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...

. In the following 2 seasons, Canterbury went from winning the premiership in 1942 to running last in 1943 and 1944 claiming the wooden spoon. As of the 2019 season, no other club has gone from premiers to wooden spooners the next season with the exception of Melbourne who won the premiership in 2009 but were later stripped of the title for major breaches of the salary cap in 2010 and made to play for no points which resulted in the club coming last. Allison played up with Canterbury up until the end of 1945 before retiring. His last game for the club was the reserve grade grand final against South Sydney. In total, Allison played 105 games for Canterbury across all grades. In 2004, he was nominated for the Berries to Bulldogs 70 Year Team of Champions.

References

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Western Suburbs Magpies players Australian rugby league players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Year of birth missing Year of death missing Place of death missing Place of birth missing {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub