Howard Hallett- The Silver Belt Fullback
By Mark Emery for Bunnies TV.
South Sydney Fullbacks
The greatest fullbacks in history have played for South Sydney. Clive Churchill is widely regarded as the best ever. Eric Simms could win games by himself with his goalkicking and GI was unstoppable. One day Latrell may enter that rarefied atmosphere.
But there is another name that old timers would put forward, even those who had seen both this player and Churchill play. That name is Howard Hallett. (Full name George Ernest Howard Hallett.)

Silver Belt
The agents for a company that sold a brand of whiskey under the name ‘Silver Belt’ sponsored rugby league in the very early days. Each year the best player won a Silver Belt by popular vote. In 1914 Hallett won this award and from then on this was his nickname.

Early Days


Howard learnt to kick and catch the ball playing Aussie Rules at school. However, he quickly joined Souths Reserve grade team in South Sydney’s first season in 1908. The following year he graduated to the firsts.

Record Number Of Games
Hallett continued to play for Souths until 1924. During that time, he played in 3 premiership winning teams, viz. 1909, 1914 and 1918. He racked up a record 181 games for Souths, which was a huge number considering the number of games there were in a season.

Representative Games.
Hallett played in a number of representative games over the years including the touring 1911-12 Australian team that was the first to win the ashes in England. He also played with distinction against the Maoris, New Zealand and Queensland.

‘In The Bag’
Howard Halletts handling was faultless. When a ball was booted his way, the crowd yelled ’in the bag’. There was little or no chance of him fumbling the ball. He was also a splendid tackler, and few got past him.

A Wonderful Player
Howard Hallett was a brilliant fullback. One of the best. He was also a wonderful South Sydney club man by virtue of the number of games he played for the club. This legendary player deserves pride of place as a champion of South Sydney. He certainly deserves a place in the ‘Remembering a Rabbitoh’ category.
Howard Hallett is Inductee 8 in the NRL Hall of Fame.

Addendum
A friend of mine, Dave, from Dangar Island, kindly sent me some photos of the actual belt the Hallett won. It was the only year the award was given so this piece stayed in his possession. I thought you might like to see the photos.



Howard Hallett – The Silver Belt Fullback.
What a champion he must have been, thanks for sharing this story of Howard Hallett.
Thank you Tiger for your comment. Yes he is a special part of South Sydney history.