Dave Watson – A Lifetime Of Service To Souths

Dave Watson – A Lifetime Of Service To Souths

There have been thousands of people who have been part of the South Sydney Rugby League family during its existence. Some have served for a short time, some for many years. Some have served as players, some coaches or administrators. A few have served in two of these. A very small group have served in all three. One such person who gave a lifetime of service to the South Sydney club and N.S.W. Rugby League was Dave Watson.

The Beginnings

Dave Watson was born in Richmond, Victoria in 1901. It was said that he screamed his lungs out continuously about being born down there and only settled when the family moved to Sydney! His father and uncles played with Richmond VFA club. His mother tried her best to discourage him from playing Rugby League but without success.

Watson began playing with the Redfern Iona Club. This club, one season, scored 303 points to nil in the first round of matches. Other teams then refused to play them. Souths senior club had their eye on Dave and SG Ball told him to turn up to play for 3rd grade. Dave did not like that idea and refused. Samuel George Ball was not a man to take no for an answer and with ‘encouragement’, he turned out for the district team.

The Collection

At this moment in the article, I would like to digress and tell another story. I was traveling in a lift with a gentleman who noticed my Souths hat. He mentioned that his father used to play for Souths. Showing great interest, I was invited to come his daughter’s house to view his father’s magnificent collection.

I had the honour to touch and view things I had only ever seen in books or never knew existed. Almost all the pictures in this biography come from Harold Watsons’ (Daves’ son) personal collection. Many are from a personal photo album and have never been published. I will try to track Daves’ story and illustrate with some of these pictures.

1923 Mid North Coast Tour

Dave was now getting his sea legs and played Reserve Grade in seasons 1921 and 22. He then moved up to first grade and continued to play for nearly ten years. In those days, teams would go on tour in a country area during a break in the competition. This might happen when there were representative games on or when there was a bye. In 1923 South Sydney toured the Mid North Coast. The two pictures below are of the Souths team against Manning River and a group photo at Taree.

1929 New Zealand

Dave continued to play with a great deal of success in the following seasons. He was an integral part of a very strong pack. In fact it was so strong that Souths only played five forwards against the opposition six.

In one game in 1927 Souths had two players sent off. They had to play with eleven men against a very powerful Saints team. Dave was one of three forwards who met and overpowered the Saints’ six.

In 1929 Souths won yet another premiership. Five in a row! Dave represented N.S.W. but was unable to gain a place in the touring team to England. Many people said he was very unlucky not to tour that year. South Sydney, at the end of the season, went on its own tour of New Zealand. This was a great success even though Souths five Kangaroos were absent.

Below are a set of snapshots taken while on the tour. I think the car was bogged.

Football Awards

Dave finished playing in 1931. He had a long and distinguished playing career. Because of his success he received a number of items.

#1 Photos

When a team had achieved success, players received a copy of the team photo. These were taken by a famous photographic company called Melba and presented at the annual presentation night. Here are some I was able to view and copy. Naturally most of these photos have appeared in various publications.

#2 Caps

Cameron Murray plays for N.S.W. In the olden days when a player played a representative game they were referred to as being ‘capped’. This had a literal meaning as players received an actual cap, similar to an old cub cap. The difference is that these caps were very heavy. They must have been ringed by lead or silver. The tassel was especially heavy. Dave received a blue cap for playing for N.S.W. in 1929. Added to this, players received awards for playing a certain number of games. To play 50 games in those days was an achievement as players did not participate in as many games in a career as today. Here is Dave’s cap for playing 50 games for Souths.

#3 Medallion

If your team won the premiership a player received a medallion. Dave received a number of medallions. Tragically, his house was broken into and all but one was stolen. Here is the one remaining medallion in the family. He also had a medallion for Life Membership.

Coaching

When Dave finished playing he took up coaching. Coaching a mixture of grades from 1933 till 1954, he achieved varying amounts of success. His highest moment in glory has to be 1949. Souths had been down in the dumps in 1945. They began the slow rise after this year. Dave took over the first grade in 1947 and not surprisingly developed the wonderful talent the club was gathering. His high point came in 1949 when they made the Grand Final.

It is history now that Jack Rayner took over Daves’ great work and won five premierships.

Administration

Dave also took an active interest in administration both with the South Sydney club and the N.S.W. Rugby League. For N.S.W., he was Vice-President for a number of years. He was also an Australian selector.

Additionally for South Sydney he was a foundation member of the Leagues Club and president of the Sports Council. He was one of the first people to be awarded Life Membership for services to the club. He reluctantly stepped down for the good of the club when there was a ‘changing of the guard’ during Souths darkest moment in 1973.

Post Script

As a postscript, I would just like to say that I have not seen or heard of from any of Dave’s family for the last 25 years or so. Normally I would be reticent to use personal photos without asking first. However, in this case I will say one thing. Meeting Harold was an honour. The thing which struck me was how proud he was of his father and his achievements. He had one wish. That was to have his father remembered for his service and devotion to the South Sydney Rugby League Club.

I hope that if any of his family read this biography, they feel I have done his memory justice.

Dave Watson – A Lifetime Of Service To Souths.

By Mark Emery for Bunnies TV.