Edward Baird (1885–1917) 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 ...

footballer, one of his country's first selected national representatives and an Australian Imperial Forces (AIF) soldier who fell in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

at the

Battle of Passchendale The Third Battle of Ypres (german: link=no, Dritte Flandernschlacht; french: link=no, Troisième Bataille des Flandres; nl, Derde Slag om Ieper), also known as the Battle of Passchendaele (), was a campaign of the First World War, fought by t ...

Early life and football career

Baird was born in Sydney in 1885 and schooled at McDonaldtown School in the inner Sydney suburbs. By 1908 when he was playing rugby league in the code's inaugural competition year, he was located in Brisbane. He was selected in the first ever Queensland Maroons state representative side to play the new "Northern Union" style of rugby, taking on Albert Baskerville's New Zealand All Golds on their inaugural tour. Baird played as a reserve as the Queenslanders lost the historic match 34–12. He went on to make another appearance 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 ...

and two against

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 ...

. When the New Zealand team came back on the return leg of their tour, they played three

Test matches Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

against the first Australian representative sides ever selected. The first Test was played in Sydney on 9 May 1908 with the Kiwis prevailing. On 30 May the 2nd Test was played in Brisbane. The side had four new players who had not played in the Sydney test, two of them Queenslanders in George Watson and Baird. Baird made his sole national representative appearance at full-back, becoming Kangaroo No. 15.

Charlie Hedley Charlie Hedley (1881–1942) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer. He was one of his country's first national representative players appearing in the inaugural professional series against New Zealand in 1907 and making the 1908– ...

was selected at fullback for the 1st and 3rd Tests of the series. Baird continued to play at fullback for Queensland against a touring

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 ...

in 1908.

War service

He enlisted with the AIF as a Private in the

47th Battalion (Australia) The 47th Battalion was an infantry battalion of the Australian Army. It was originally raised in 1916 for service during the First World War. The battalion then took part in the fighting in the trenches of the Western Front in France and Belgi ...

and embarked from Brisbane in May 1916 on ''HMAT A46 Clan Macgillivray''. He was killed on the first day of the First Battle of Passchendaele in Belgium on 12 October 1917. He was one of 3,199 Australian lives lost in the battle.

References

Other sources

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
Ed Baird at the AIF Project
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baird, Edward 1885 births Sportsmen from New South Wales Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby league players from Sydney Australian military personnel killed in World War I Queensland rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players 1917 deaths Rugby league fullbacks