Denis "Dinny" Lutge (26 November 1879 – 18 February 1953) was a pioneer 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 ...

and

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 its m ...

player, a dual-code international. He was the second ever captain of the

Australian national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

and the first to lead the side to victory.

Rugby union career

Mosman, New South Wales Mosman is a suburb on the Lower North Shore region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mosman is located 8 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local governm ...

stevedore A stevedore (), also called a longshoreman, a docker or a dockworker, is a waterfront manual laborer who is involved in loading and unloading ships, trucks, trains or airplanes. After the shipping container revolution of the 1960s, the number o ...

, Lutge commenced his rugby career with the Mosman Juniors in 1893,Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney before playing for Sydney's Northern Suburbs club from 1901 until 1907. He made his international début as a lock-forward in the first ever rugby union test match played between the Australian team and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

in Sydney, on 15 August 1903. He went on to appear in all three of Australia's Test losses in 1904 against the visiting British Lions.

Rugby league career

Lutge was named foundation captain of the North Sydney District Rugby League Football Club in 1908. Lutge represented

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that year and in May, along with two other of the five inaugural selectors (

Hennessy Jas Hennessy & Co., commonly known simply as Hennessy (), is a French producer of cognac, which has its headquarters in Cognac, France. It is one of the "big four" cognac houses, along with Martell, Courvoisier, and Rémy Martin, who together ma ...

& Dore), Lutge picked himself for the first international

matches against the visiting New Zealand team, drawing some press criticism in the process. Along with

Dally Messenger Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played f ...

Micky Dore Michael Joseph Dore (1 July 1883 – 13 August 1910) was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer - a dual-code international. He was one of the founding fathers of rugby league in Queensland. Along with Dally Messe ...

Doug McLean snr Douglas James McLean Sr. (15 April 1880 – December 1947) was a pioneer Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international. He also represented Queensland in rugby league. Rugby union career Born in Br ...

and Johnny Rosewell, Lutge was one of the inaugural five Australian dual code rugby internationals who débuted in international rugby league in Sydney on 9 May 1908 in the first Australian league Test against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. Lutge enjoys the distinction of having played in each of Australia's inaugural rugby league and rugby union Test matches against New Zealand. He was selected as captain for the 3rd Test in June 1908 and, playing at lock, led Australia to their first international rugby league victory after they had lost the earlier two Tests under

Arthur Hennessy Arthur Stephen "Ash" Hennessy (24 September 1876 – 19 September 1959) was an Australian pioneer rugby league identity. He was a seminal figure in the creation of the South Sydney Rabbitohs for whom he played and later coached. He was a state an ...

. Lutge was selected by the playing squad as tour captain for the nine-month 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 ...

of 1908–09, but broke his arm before he had the opportunity to captain Australia against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. After Lutge's injury, the Australian test team was captained by Dally Messenger. Upon returning to Australia he retired from football but continued working as a selector. He coached a visiting

New Zealand Māori rugby league team New Zealand Māori rugby league team is a rugby league representative side made up of New Zealand Māori players. The side represents the New Zealand Māori Rugby league. Like its union counterpart, the rugby league team previously competed in ...

against teams he was selecting in 1909. In 1915 he was selected as the North Sydney club's first ever coach, pioneering the concept of mid-week night training. Lutge worked for more than fifty years for the Mosman council as a beach inspector and cleaner at Balmoral.

Accolades

Lutge 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. Dinny Lutge is Kangaroo player #8 on the Australian Players Register (2005).

Playing records

* ''Club:'' North Sydney "Shoremen" (1908) 3 games, 1 try * ''Representative:'' Australia (1908), New South Wales (1908)

Published sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lutge, Denis 1879 births 1953 deaths Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Dual-code rugby internationals New South Wales rugby league team players New Zealand Māori rugby league team coaches North Sydney Bears coaches North Sydney Bears players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union locks