Sid Deane (1885–1967) was a foundation 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

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for the Australia national team. He played in five Tests between 1908 and 1914. In 1914 he became the ninth Australian national captain and the first from the North Sydney Club.

Club career

Born in North Sydney, he commenced his footballing career with Norths rugby union. He was present at the North Sydney School of Arts in 1907 for the meeting which founded North Sydney. He was elected onto the players committee and played at five-eighth in the inaugural round of rugby league matches played in Sydney on 20 April 1908.Whiticker pp47-50 Following his appearances for Australia on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of England in 1908 several English clubs made offers for him to stay and he reached agreement with the

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

. For the next four seasons he featured in a star-studded team including

Arthur Anlezark Ernest Arthur "George" Anlezark (29 December 1882 – 14 May 1961), also known as Alec, was an Australian rugby league and rugby union player – a dual-code rugby international.He was a pioneer Australian representative footballer selected in t ...

, Kangaroo

Tom McCabe Thomas McCabe (28 April 1954 – 19 April 2015) was a Scottish politician who served as Minister for Parliament from 1999 to 2001 and Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform from 2004 to 2007. A member of the Scottish Labour Party, he ...

and English representatives James "Jim" Lomas, Alf Wood and Albert Avery. Oldham were Championship finalists for each of those four years. Deane played right-, i.e. number 3, in Oldham's 3-7 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

Final during the 1908–09 season at

The Willows, Salford The Willows was a rugby league stadium in Weaste, Salford, England. It had a final capacity of 11,363 with 2,500 seats. History In 1900, Salford agreed a 14-year lease on of land belonging to the Willows Estate Company, named after the abunda ...

on Saturday 1 May 1909, played, and was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

in Oldham's 13-7 victory over

in the

Final during the 1909–10 season, and played, and was

in Oldham's 20-7 victory over

in the

Final during the 1910–11 season. He had further seasons with North Sydney from 1912 to 1914, then returned to England to play with

Hull F.C. Hull Football Club, commonly referred to as Hull or Hull F.C., is a professional rugby league football club established in 1865 and based in West Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The club plays in the Super League competition and were ...

for the 1914-15 season. He finished his career with North Sydney in 1919. In August, 2006 Deane was named 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 ...

''.

Representative career

He made his representative début for New South Wales in May 1908 against the New Zealand "All Golds" and later that year for a NSW side against the NZ Maori. In July Deane was selected in the Pioneer Kangaroo side to tour England and made his international début in the centres alongside

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 ...

in the first Ashes Test on 22 November 1908. Following Deane's return from the English competition in 1912 he again represented New South Wales against touring New Zealand and English sides. During the

1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1914 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand was the second ever British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the Australian and New Zealand national sides, ...

Deane captained the Kangaroos in all three Ashes Tests. Australia won the second Test in July 1914 12-7. This was the first rugby league Test played at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

and the first Australian home victory against the English.

After football

Deane's wider family contributed to the development of rugby league in Australia. His brothers Os and Lal both played for North Sydney. Os Deane represented New South Wales and Lal became a first grade and representative level referee. Deane's sister married his North Sydney and Australia teammate

Con Sullivan Con Sullivan (1886–1964) was a New Zealand international rugby league footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s for various Australasian representative sides. Playing career Sullivan started his career playing rugby in Wellington where h ...

and their son,

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went on to represent Australia in 1954, and both he and another nephew Jack played for Norths. After retirement he helped run the family sports store and billiards room in North Sydney and was an SP bookmaker in later life.

Matches played

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'', Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Deane, Sid 1885 births 1967 deaths Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Date of birth missing Hull F.C. players North Sydney Bears players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney