So far 3,233 accounted for with a few others still in hiding. The latest alphabetic list of players is here. The chronological match and team members list with scorers is here.
Of these 3,233 men some 150 played in the Maher Cup for two different clubs, 19 for three clubs and just two, Clarrie Joyce and Frank Blundell played for four. Clarrie Joyce was a builder from Tumut who played in the first Maher Cup match back in 1920. He then joined Gundagai in 1921, West Wyalong in 1923, and Cootamundra, where he settled, in 1926. He died when still quite Young. Blundell the energetic father of squash champion Heather McKay, hailed from Queanbeyan and played there as well. He was a baker and like Joyce he had a occupation that enabled him to easily relocate his work.
There are an additional 84 players listings which may be errors or duplications of others. For example, was Jack Stoneham who played for West Wyalong and Temora just before the War the same man as Jack Stonham whom played for Gibsonvale and West Wyalong just after? – and is T. Lawrence of Barmedman simply a misprinted initial for one of the many Lawrences from that place (and if so which one?) or has a previously unidentified Lawrence emerged?
The lists have been compiled over many months – through reading thousands of Trove online reports, scrolling through original local papers at West Wyalong, Temora, Young, Gundagai and Harden, and winding through an irritating amount of microfilm at the State Library. Published text sources are, like this writer, considered to be exhausted.
It is likely that some of these early team compositions will remain forever shrouded – like the names of the Young team in the last match before the War stopped proceedings, when, with the police enforcing wartime fuel restrictions, Temora caught most people unaware by making a last minute dash across by special train.
The majority of undiscovered names are from four towns: Boorowa, where I am told team lists were posted on a shop window, not in the paper; Barmedman which without a local paper received only peripheral coverage from the Temora and Wyalong press; Junee where fire destroyed most of the Southern Cross’ archives; and Harden where during the bad old days before 1940, when the team was routinely flogged, the paper may have been reluctant to circulate the culprates’ names, while during their extraordinary string of success in the late 1950s and early 1960s it was probably rightly assumed that the team was just the same as it was the previous week.
If anyone has old programmes from any matches listed below, or knows someone with a sharp or long memory it would be great to get just a little closer to that 100%.
Please add a comment, email neiljpollock@gmail.com, phone 044844010, or post to the Maher Cup Country Facebook page
Date | Home Team | Names short | Away Team | Names short |
15 May 1971 | Barmedman | 5 | Harden | 0 |
14 June 1969 | Wagga Kangaroos | 3 | Junee | 0 |
5 August 1967 | West Wyalong | 3 | Barmedman | 7 |
13 August 1966 | Harden | 2 | Grenfell | 0 |
23 July 1966 | Cootamundra | 1 | Wyangala dam | 0 |
4 June 1966 | West Wyalong | 6 | Cootamundra | 0 |
28 May 1966 | West Wyalong | 0 | Wyangala dam | 3 |
21 May 1966 | Barmedman | 4 | West Wyalong | 0 |
15 May 1965 | West Wyalong | 0 | Junee | 3 |
18 July 1964 | Cootamundra | 0 | Barmedman | 2 |
20 June 1964 | Harden | 4 | Temora | 0 |
4 August 1963 | Harden | 1 | Barmedman | 1 |
27 July 1963 | Harden | 3 | Temora | 0 |
13 Juy 1963 | Harden | 8 | Grenfell | 0 |
22 June 1963 | West Wyalong | 3 | Grenfell | 0 |
16 June 1962 | Barmedman | 0 | Tumut | 1 |
30 July 1960 | West Wyalong | 0 | Junee | 5 |
28 May 1960 | Harden | 3 | Tumut | 0 |
22 August 1959 | Harden | 7 | West Wyalong | 0 |
25 July 1959 | Harden | 0 | Barmedman | 8 |
25 April 1959 | Harden | 0 | Barmedman | 1 |
31 May 1958 | Harden | 0 | Barmedman | 10 |
12 April 1958 | Boorowa | 2 | Harden | 0 |
23 June 1956 | West Wyalong | 0 | Tumut | 3 |
7 April 1956 | Young | 1 | Temora | 0 |
3 September 1955 | Young | 0 | Barmedman | 5 |
9 April 1955 | Barmedman | 0 | Junee | 10 |
17 April 1954 | Temora | 0 | Grenfell | 9 |
3 April 1954 | Temora | 0 | Boorowa | 7 |
19 September 1953 | Temora | 0 | Barmedman | 8 |
16 September 1950 | Grenfell | 0 | Boorowa | 11 |
15 July 1950 | Junee | 0 | Boorowa | 8 |
19 July 1947 | Temora | 0 | Barmedman | 1 |
5 July 1947 | Cowra | 3 | Temora | 0 |
8 May 1946 | Cowra | 3 | Ungarie | 0 |
26 September 1945 | Cowra | 6 | Harden | 7 |
19 September 1945 | Cowra | 0 | Tumut | 4 |
10 September 1941 | Young | 13 | Temora | 0 |
23 July 1941 | West Wyalong | 6 | Gundagai | 0 |
16 July 1941 | West Wyalong | 3 | Junee | 0 |
9 July 1941 | West Wyalong | 3 | Cootamundra | 0 |
28 June 1939 | West Wyalong | 0 | Barmedman | 3 |
21 June 1939 | West Wyalong | 0 | Harden | 2 |
14 June 1939 | West Wyalong | 0 | Barmedman | 2 |
27 July 1938 | Temora | 0 | Cowra | 1 |
13 July 1938 | Young | 2 | Grenfell | 3 |
20 May 1936 | Temora | 0 | Barmedman | 5 |
7 September 1932 | Junee | 8 | Barmedman | 0 |
31 August 1932 | Junee | 6 | Tumut | 0 |
13 July 1932 | Tumut | 0 | Barmedman | 4 |
15 July 1931 | Barmedman | 10 | Tumut | 10 |
8 July 1931 | Barmedman | 5 | Wagga | 0 |
11 September 1929 | Junee | 0 | Barmedman | 2 |
8 August 1928 | Junee | 0 | Harden | 2 |
25 August 1926 | Cootamundra | 0 | Temora | 4 |
16 June 1926 | Cootamundra | 0 | Harden | 12 |
9 June 1926 | Cootamundra | 0 | Young | 2 |
2 September 1925 | West Wyalong | 0 | Temora | 1 |
10 June 1925 | Cootamundra | 0 | Junee | 10 |
17 September 1924 | Cootamundra | 0 | Junee | 11 |
18 July 1923 | Cootamundra | 4 | Gundagai | 0 |
3 August 1921 | Tumut | 0 | Gundagai | 10 |
22 September 1920 | Tumut | 14 | Gundagai | 13 |
8 September 1920 | Tumut | 0 | Gundagai | 11 |