Harold Norman Horder (23 February 1894 – 21 August 1978) 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 112 ...

player. He was a national and state representative player whose club career was with South Sydney and North Sydney between

1912 Events January * January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established. * January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens. * January 6 ...

and 1924. Regarded as one of the greatest wingers to play the game, from 1924 until 1973 his 152 career tries was the NSWRFL record.

Playing career

Born in

Surry Hills, New South Wales Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surround ...

, Horder played 86 games for Souths between 1912–1919 and 1924, 31 games for

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 ...

, 13 Test matches for

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 ...

After following his brother Clarence "Spot" Horder to South Sydney, Harold, in his first game, stepped and swerved through the entire

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

team in a 90 metre dash to score one of the greatest individual tries in rugby league history. He went on to be the NSW Rugby Football League's top try scorer in

1913 Events January * January 5 – First Balkan War: Battle of Lemnos (1913), Battle of Lemnos – Greek admiral Pavlos Kountouriotis forces the Turkish fleet to retreat to its base within the Dardanelles, from which it will not ven ...

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as World War I, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip. It als ...

and 1917 and for each of the four seasons

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

he was the League's top point scorer. The Gregory's reference records that, in the 1912 City Cup-tie against

, Harold induced the Souths selectors to name his relatively inexperienced brother Clarrie in the side. While Glebe was concentrating on Harold, Clarrie cut holes in the defence and Souths won 30-5. Horder was selected to make his debut for Australia during the 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand. He was selected to go on the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He scored 102 tries for South Sydney and 50 tries for North Sydney. Horder scored 20 individual points in Norths' 1922 grand final win which consisted of 2 tries and 7 goals. In his final season at Souths he became the first player to score 150 tries in NSWRFL history. His final game in the NSWRFL competition was the 1924 grand final loss against Balmain which finished 3-0, the lowest scoring grand final Australian rugby league history. In total, Horder won 4 premierships, 2 with Souths in 1914 and 1918. Horder then won 2 premierships with Norths in 1921 and 1922. In 1918 he overtook

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 ...

's record for the most points scored in an NSWRFL career (379); Horder's eventual total of 758 stood as the new career record for nine seasons until it was bettered by

Arthur Oxford Arthur Thomas Oxford (1894–1980) was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative whose club career was played with the Eastern Suburbs club and South Sydney from 1915 to 1929. Club career A noted point scorer, ...

in 1927. In 1925, Harold moved to the Brisbane rugby league club

Coorparoo Coorparoo is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Coorparoo had a population of 16,282 people. Geography Coorparoo is by road south-east of the Brisbane GPO. It borders Camp Hill, Holland Park, Stones Corner ...

as their captain coach for two seasons after leaving Souths. He appeared in an Australian film ''

In the Last Stride ''In the Last Stride'' is a 1916 Australian silent film directed by Martyn Keith based on the 1914 popular action novel by Arthur Wright. The film's star, Dave Smith, was a champion heavyweight boxer who had fought Les Darcy. There was also an ...

'' (1916).

Accolades

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 ...

's ''Rugby League Annual'' of 1928 commented "if he is not the greatest of all rugby league footballers, he is unquestionably the greatest of all wing three-quarters". Horder was inducted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian. It was officially established in 2002, ...

on 7 September 2004 at the

Dally M Awards The Dally M Awards are the official annual player awards for the National Rugby League competition. As well as honouring the player of the year, who received the Dally M Medal, awards are also given to the premier player in each position, the b ...

in Sydney. In 2004 Horder was named by Souths in its ''South Sydney Dream Team'', consisting of 17 players and a coach representing the club from 1908 through to

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. In August, 2006 he was also named as a winger in the North Sydney Bears' ''

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

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

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

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.

Footnotes

External links

Harold Horder at the Online Dictionary of Australian BiographiesHarold Horder at yesterdayshero.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Horder, Harold 1894 births 1978 deaths Australian rugby league players Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players North Sydney Bears players Queensland rugby league team players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers South Sydney Rabbitohs players South Sydney Rabbitohs captains