William "Webby" Neill (1884–1964) 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 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s, who later became a leading

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

in the

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 ...

Playing career

Neill played for South Sydney in the first ever

NSWRFL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sou ...

season in 1908 and that year went on to play in the first ever

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

, which his team won. The following season Souths also won the premiership and he was first selected for the Australian national side that year. Neill moved to Newtown the following season, playing in their

1910 NSWRFL season The 1910 NSWRFL season was the third season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the pre ...

grand final-winning team to make it three premierships in three years. The following year he was selected to go on the

1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the second ever Kangaroo tour and was actually a tour by an " Australasian" squad that included four New Zealand players in addition to 24 Australian representatives. It took place over the British ...

, the second-ever. He played for another three seasons at Newtown before a final season with

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

Post playing

Neill later took to refereeing in the NSWRFL. He oversaw matches in a long refereeing career from 1916 to 1932 and officiated in a number of

s in that time. 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 1931.Referee, Sydney "New Life Members" 13 Jan 1931 (Page 14). Neill is listed on the Australian Players Register as ''Kangaroo No. 50''

References

External links

William Neill at nrlstats.com
1884 births 1964 deaths Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby league referees Glebe rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Newtown Jets players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1880s-stub