Reginald Augustine 'Whip' Latta (1897–1970) 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 11 ...

footballer who played in the 1910s and 1920s who also became a coach. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative forward, he played his club football in Sydney for the Balmain club, with whom he won five premierships. Latta also coached the team.

Background

Latta was born in

Balmain, New South Wales Balmain is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Balmain is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Inner West Council. It is located on the Balmain peninsula su ...

to parents James and Mary Latta in 1897.

Playing career

He came through the junior ranks to debut for Balmain in 1916 as a 19-year-old. He went on to play fourteen first grade seasons with Balmain between 1916–1930. He was a blonde haired lock-forward and he was known by the nickname 'Whip'. He won five premierships with Balmain in

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * J ...

1917 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 9 – WWI – Battle of Rafa: The last substantial Ottoman Army garrison on the Sinai Peninsula is captured by the Egyptian Expeditionary Fo ...

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

, 1920 and

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

. He represented

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on eleven occasions during : 1921, 1923, 1924 and 1925. He also represented Australia on five occasions including touring with the 1921-22 Kangaroos as was named the ''Champion Australian Player'' of that tour. He was also the first Balmain player to play more than 200 games for the club.

Post-playing

Latta would coach Balmain in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

and

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

Family

Reg Latta's older brother Alfred played in the First Rugby League match in 1908 scoring the first try and kicking the first goal when Balmain defeated Western Suburbs. Alfred Latta played for Balmain 1908–12, he then became Club Secretary, and from 1916 served on the League committee, (executive), as a NSW Selector, then Australian Selector. Alfred also held the position of NSWRFL Vice President when he died in 1947. Alfred Latta had three sons, Jack who was graded as a referee at age 22, Alfred Junior also a referee, mainly 2nd grade and 1st grade touch judge, his other son Ernie played first grade for Balmain as halfback and fullback. Reg Latta's other brother Harry also played first grade for Balmain. There were six members of the Latta family involved in Rugby League prior to 1940 and they are often confused. The following appears in the original quote I believe it should refer to Alfred Latta and not Reg Latta. "also served Balmain as a committeeman and office-holder for many years. He was awarded Life Membership of the NSWRFL in 1937 for services to the game."

Death

Latta died on 30 July 1970 at his

Drummoyne Drummoyne is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drummoyne is six kilometres west of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative center for the local government area of the Ci ...

home aged 73.Sydney Morning Herald - death notice- 1 August 1970

References

1897 births 1970 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers coaches Balmain Tigers players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1890s-stub