Jack Holland (1922-1994) was an Australian professional

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 who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australian international and

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 ...

interstate representative forward, he played his club football in Sydney's

NSWRFL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for the St. George club.

Background

Holland was born in

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountains ...

on 19 August 1922.

Career

Holland served in the Army during World War II. Commencing his first-grade NSWRFL Premiership playing career with

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

in 1947, he was selected to represent New South Wales in 1948. In 1948 Holland was also first selected for the Australian national team, becoming Kangaroo No. 252. He also went on the 1948-49

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 ...

. At the end of the

1949 NSWRFL season The 1949 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-second season of Sydney's top-level professional rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Ten teams from across the city contested the premiership during ...

, Holland played for St. George at prop forward in their

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

victory against South Sydney. During the

1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first ever tour of Australasia by any French sports team in history. Puig Aubert captained the France national rugby league team who played 28 matches in total in both Austra ...

, Holland was selected to play for the

Sydney representative rugby league team The Sydney Rugby League team, known as the City Rugby League team, or Combined Sydney, or Sydney Firsts, or Sydney Capitals, is a representative rugby league team. From 2021, the men's team is to consist of players selected from the New South Wa ...

that drew with the

Les Chanticleers The France national rugby league team represent France in international rugby league matches. They are referred to as ''les Chanticleers'' or less commonly as ''les Tricolores''. The team is run under the auspices of the Fédération Française ...

. After playing six seasons at St. George, the

1952 NSWRFL season The 1952 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-fifth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across Sydney contested for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a gr ...

was the last to feature Holland. Holland died in 1994, aged 71. Sydney Morning Herald - Death notice 26/1/1994

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Holland, Jack 1922 births 1994 deaths Sportsmen from New South Wales Rugby league players from Sydney St. George Dragons players City New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Rugby league props Australian Army personnel of World War II