3,300 Maher Cup Players or there abouts

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
Print Friendly

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *