Edgar Wynton Newham (1914–1995) was a

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 for

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...

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 ...

and for the Australian national side.

Rugby league career

Edgar Newham played his first game of Rugby League at 19 years of age. By the time he was 24, Edgar Newham joined

from

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

, New South Wales and played 9 seasons with the club between 1938-1945 and 1948. He found immediate success when Canterbury won their first premiership, beating

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New S ...

19–6 in the 1938 Final. Newham played on the wing in the Final. Four years later in 1942, Newham crossed for 5 tries in a mid-week match against the

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 ...

that decided the minor-premiership. His five try record in this game was only equaled in 2002 by

Nigel Vagana Nigel Faletoese Vagana (born 7 February 1975), also known by the nicknames of "Pablo", and "Chiko", is a former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s, as a and . A New Zealand national rugby league team, New Z ...

. Canterbury won the match 26-20 and went on to win the 1942 Premiership, beating the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until the ...

11–9 in the grand final. The war years interrupted his

career. In 1946 he returned to Captain-Coach the Cowra league team and in 1947 he played in Queensland. In 1948, Newham briefly returned to Canterbury as a 34-year-old. He played half of the season with Canterbury before a hip injury forced him to retire as a player.

War service

Newham joined the RAAF as a paratrooper and traveled to club games during the 1942 season while stationed in Newcastle before leaving for active duty overseas, as a gunner. After returning to Australia, he was again playing for Cowra in 1946 when he was again selected to play for the

New South Wales rugby league team The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Also known as the Blues due to their sky blue jerseys, the team competes in the ann ...

and ultimately went on to play Great Britain in the 1946 Ashes series.

Representative career

Newham represented

in 1941 but had to wait until after the War to represent

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. When he was selected for the Kangaroos at 32 years of age, he became the oldest ever player to make his Test debut. He played two Tests for the Australian national side in 1946.

Accolades

Edgar Newham is recognised as Bulldogs player No. 58. In 2004 Edgard Newham was named on the wing for the Berries to Bulldogs 70 year Team of Champions. In 2007 he was inducted into the Bulldogs Hall of Fame, (Ring of Champions).http://www.bulldogs.com.au/Edgar Newham

References

1914 births 1995 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players City New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Cowra, New South Wales Rugby league wingers {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub