Robert Graves (rugby)
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Robert Henderson Graves (1 September 1883 – 15 February 1958) 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 11 ...
and
rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
player and one of his country's first dual-code internationals. He was a versatile forward for the Australia national team. He played in 6 Tests between 1908 and 1909, as captain on 1 occasion. In 1907 he played 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 ...
in the very first rugby match run by the newly created '
New South Wales Rugby Football 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 ...
' which had just split away from the established
New South Wales Rugby Football Union The New South Wales Rugby Union, or NSWRU, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union within most of the state of New South Wales in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. Within Australia it is considered ...
.


Rugby union career

Graves grew up in inner city Balmain in Sydney. He played rugby union at Fort Street School and later represented for his senior school Hawkesbury Agricultural College. Whiticker pp31-32 From there he was graded to play rugby union with the West Sydney Juniors - an inner city club. He played with the Grosvenor Club (another inner Sydney club) until 1902. He then joined the Gipps Club in the Balmain area with whom he won the Sydney rugby union premiership in 1904. He joined the Balmain club in the metropolitan rugby competition in 1905 and from there was selected to represent Metropolis (Sydney) in a fixture against Country played over Easter in 1905. He continued in a coaching role for the Grosvenor club even while himself playing rugby for those other sides from 1903 to 1907.


Rugby league career

Graves was one of the New South Wales rugby union players who matched up against the first professional New Zealand team,
Albert Baskiville Albert (Bert) Henry Baskerville (born as "Baskiville") (15 January 1883 – 20 May 1908) was a Wellington postal clerk, a rugby union forward, author of the book "''Modern Rugby Football: New Zealand Methods; Points for the Beginner, the Pla ...
's ' All Golds' in three matches in Sydney in August 1907. He played in all three matches and along with the other Australian rebel players was promptly blacklisted by the New South Wales Rugby Union for breaching its fundamental principle of amateurism. Graves was at the foundation meetings of the break-away code in 1908 and was named as foundation captain of 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 i ...
. He led the Tigers in their first ever game on 20 April 1908 against Easts. Graves was selected in all three games against New Zealand for Australia's inaugural Test series of 1908. He was a member of the first
Kangaroo Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern ...
side which toured Britain in 1908–09. He appeared in 23 games on tour including the deciding 3rd Test at Birmingham in February 1909. In 1909 he played in the 1st and 3rd Tests 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 ...
in Sydney. He captained his country in the 3rd Test victory becoming at that point Australia's sixth Test captain. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 6. The second wave of
Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...
defectors to rugby league in 1909 (
Chris McKivat Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests ...
's Olympic Gold Medal Wallabies) spelled the end of Graves' representative career. Though only 26 years old he did not play another Test. He played a further 5 seasons with Balmain retiring in 1913. He was awarded Life Membership of 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 ...
in 1914.Referee, Sydney. ''Life Members of the NSW Rugby League.'' 13 May 1914(page 12)


Dual international recognition

Both the Whiticker and Whiticker/Collis references record that in 1907 Graves represented New South Wales in rugby union and in that same year came on as a replacement for John Rosewell in the Wallabies v
All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...
1st Test in Sydney. This makes Graves a dual code rugby international and he is listed as such in the 1991 edition of the Andrews reference. He is however not listed among the Australian dual-code internationals in sources such as the "2005 Rugby League Annual" or in editions of "Australian Sporting Records". Presumably (and erroneously) this may be due to his status in making his single Wallaby appearance as a reserve rather than from the run-on side.


References


Published works

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney * Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) ''The History of Rugby League Clubs'', New Holland, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Robert 1883 births 1958 deaths Annandale rugby league players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Balmain Tigers coaches Balmain Tigers players Dual-code rugby internationals New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union props Rugby union players from Sydney