Wally McArthur (1 December 1933 – 28 August 2015) was an Aboriginal 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 ...

footballer and

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete. In 2008, the centenary of

rugby league in Australia Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2009, it was the most watched spor ...

, he was named in the Aboriginal Australian rugby league team of the Century. McArthur was born in 1933 in

Borroloola Borroloola ( local Aboriginal languages: ''Burrulula'') is a town in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the McArthur River, about 50 km upstream from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Location Borroloola lies on the traditional c ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

, before he moved down to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, in the early 1950s, where he lived at

St Francis House St Francis House was a home for inland Aboriginal Australian boys from 1946 to 1959 at Glanville Hall in Semaphore South, Adelaide, South Australia. Father Percy Smith purchased Glanville Hall on behalf of the Anglican Church to provide accommo ...

boys boarding home and became a noted short-distance runner. McArthur was also interested in playing

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

, but was denied this because of a "

colour bar Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crime against humanity under the Statute of the Internati ...

". Rugby historian Sean Fagan and Australian journalist

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; born 9 October 1939) is an Australian journalist, writer, scholar, and documentary filmmaker. He has been mainly based in Britain since 1962. He was also once visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. Pilger ...

have claimed that McArthur was not selected for the Australian track team at the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

because of

racial discrimination Racial discrimination is any discrimination against any individual on the basis of their skin color, race or ethnic origin.Individuals can discriminate by refusing to do business with, socialize with, or share resources with people of a certain g ...

, but this has been disputed. McArthur played in the

South Australian Rugby League NRL South Australia (abbreviated as NRLSA, formerly the South Australian Rugby League) is a not-for-profit organisation responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the state of South Australia. It was formed on 28 July 1976 and is ...

and

Western Australia Rugby League NRL Western Australia (abbreviated as NRLWA, and formerly the Western Australian Rugby League) is responsible for administering the game of rugby league football in the state of Western Australia. The NRLWA administers all forms of the game in ...

before moving to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to play a total of 165 games with

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the Championship, the second tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs ...

Blackpool Borough Blackpool Borough was a rugby league club based in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, that played in the Rugby Football League from 1954 until 1993. The club moved to Wigan in 1987 and was renamed Springfield Borough; to Chorley in 1988 and was ...

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

and

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

References

External links

"The Wally McArthur Story"
at http://www.johnpilger.com {{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Wally 1933 births 2015 deaths Australian rugby league players Blackpool Borough players Indigenous Australian rugby league players Rochdale Hornets players Salford Red Devils players Workington Town players