Thomas Helm (2 September 1885 - 11 August 1950) was a Scottish

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 its m ...

and 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 1900s and 1910s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

South of Scotland South of Scotland may refer to: * The southern portion of Scotland ** Geography of Scotland * South of Scotland (Scottish Parliament electoral region) * South of Scotland (European Parliament constituency) * South of Scotland District (rugby union) ...

, and at club level for

Hawick RFC Hawick Rugby Football Club is an semi-pro rugby union side, currently playing in the Scottish Premiership and Border League. The club was founded in 1885 and are based at Mansfield Park at Hawick in the Scottish Borders. Splinter from Hawick an ...

,Tom Mather (2010). "Best in the Northern Union". Pages 128-142. and selected to play representative level rugby league (RL) for

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

(no appearances), and at club level for

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 ...

( Heritage No. 129), and

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

(no appearances), as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

(prior to the specialist positions of; ), during the era of contested

scrum Scrum may refer to: Sport * Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league ** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union * Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi Media and popular culture * M ...

Playing career

International honours

Tom Helm represented

(RU) while at Hawick, and was selected for

(RL) while at Oldham for the

1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first international tour of the Great Britain national rugby league team, "The Lions". They played the second ever Ashes series against Australia, and their first as the visiti ...

. However, a knee injury sustained prior to departing on the tour, was exacerbated by a

tug of war Tug of war (also known as tug o' war, tug war, rope war, rope pulling, or tugging war) is a sport that pits two teams against each other in a test of strength: teams pull on opposite ends of a rope, with the goal being to bring the rope a certa ...

competition with the passengers on-board the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) is a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World c ...

(P&O)

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SS Malwa, consequently he played no matches during the tour, and he would not play for Oldham until December 1910.

Club career

Tom Helm's final match for

took place against

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

during April of the

1910–11 Northern Rugby Football Union season The 1910–11 Northern Rugby Football Union season was the 16th season of rugby league football. Season summary Oldham won their third Championship, and second in a row, after defeating Wigan 20-7 in the Play Off Final. Wigan had ended the reg ...

, at the end of that season, along with other Oldham players, he signed for

, but he does not appear to have played any matches for Coventry.

Death

His death is noted as 11 August 1950. His death was reported in the ''Hawick Express'' edition of 16 August 1950.

Mr Tom Helm, who was a noted forward with the " Greens " about the 1908 period, and who later went to the Northern Union game and travelled to Australia and New Zealand with a British touring team, has died suddenly in Sydney, Australia, at the age of 65. Mr Helm had lived in Australia for about 25 years, and in the Second World War served as a Sergeant-Major in the Australian Army. He leaves a wife and a married son and daughter.

His death was also reported in the ''Hawick News and Border Chronicle'' edition of 18 August 1950.

Mr Tom Helm, well-known Greens forward about 40 years ago, has died in Sydney. Australia. He was 65 years of age, and at one time toured Australia and New Zealand with British Northern Union Rugby team. He is survived by his wife, a son and daughter.

References

External links

Search for "Helm" at rugbyleagueproject.org (RL)
*(archived by web.archive.org

{{DEFAULTSORT:Helm, Thomas 1885 births 1950 deaths Great Britain national rugby league team players Hawick RFC players Oldham R.L.F.C. players Place of birth missing Place of death missing Rugby league forwards Rugby league players from Hawick Rugby union forwards Rugby union players from Hawick Scottish rugby league players Scottish rugby union players South of Scotland District (rugby union) players