Percy Horne And His Wonderful Niece

Percy Horne And His Wonderful Niece..Her Name Is Hazel

Percy Horne, who was one the hardest workers for the South Sydney club, had a lovely niece. I had the pleasure to speak to this wonderful lady on the phone for nearly an hour. What came through was that she, and her sons and her grandchildren and great grandchildren, are all unquestionably mad Souths supporters for life. Her name is Hazel, and she is 93 years old.

The Grand Final

This weekend, South Sydney N.S.W. Cup team, which is equivalent to the old Reserve Grade, is playing in the Grand Final for the first time for 40 years and only the second time in 55 years. At this time, I feel it is appropriate to remember the service of the great man himself.

Percy Horne

The story of Percy Horne is well known to all rabid South Sydney supporters. In fact, all Souths supporters are rabid and those who are not are sent to museums to be displayed as a curio.

Percy began his time with Souths in 1908 with the junior league. Giving sterling service to the juniors in the early stages, Percy helped to set up the fledgling competition. He played with the senior South Sydney club from 1917 till 1925. Newtown was his home for a short time in 1924-25.

In 1926 Percy became secretary of the Reserve grade, a position he held for 47 years. In that time the Reserve Grade won many premierships, similar to the 1st grade. He was made a Life Member of the club in 1961. It is a medallion that Hazel treasures.

The False Teeth Incident

One amusing incident came up in the 1987 video THE HISTORY OF SOUTHS. The commentator stated that Souths often went on end of season trips to the country and Percy was the organiser. Percy was being interviewed on camera and was reminded of an amusing incident on one of these trips. The team was returning by train and cerebrating a successful excursion. Percy had cause to use the men’s room. Unfortunately, while there his false teeth fell out and went down the toilet. Now in those days it was just a hole in the floor of the train. Percy implored the train driver, who was a great bloke he said, to stop the train. The whole Souths team walked back along the track until said false teeth were found and returned, after being washed thoroughly I presume, to Percy’s mouth.

End Of Season Picnics

At the end of most seasons there would be an annual picnic. The players, officials and their families would head down to Circular Quay and go off to some park on the ferry. One year Hazel remembers going to Neilson Park. She particularly remembers some of the big identities in the club there such as Dave Watson, S.G.Ball, Cec Blinkhorn and George Hansen. Other entertainment provided would include theatre parties and balls, especially if Souths had won the premiership.

Boarding Young Players

All clubs try to boost their playing ranks. One source of player strength can come from the country. Very often young blokes would make the journey to the ‘big smoke’ to try their luck. It is certainly pretty daunting for a young man to find their way around the city. As a consequence, officials and even supporters would open their homes to board these young players until they found their feet. Hazel can remember Percy and his wife opening their home to great Souths players like Bobby Honeysett and Ivan Jones.

Going To The Games – The SCG

Saturday. And what are we going to do today? Well, there is nothing to say. Go and watch three grade games with South Sydney. Perc was especially interested in the performance of the Reserve Grade naturally. All clubs craved SCG games because the large crowds meant extra revenue. Once Souths lost a lot of money in a premiership winning year due to the paucity of SCG games. Hazel loved going to the SCG because of the entertainment that was provided other than the football. Sometimes they had races.

Going To The Games – The Suburbs

Going out to the suburbs was a different matter. At Henson Park you could drive your car in, park it near the fence and watch the game, like a drive-in movie. Wasn’t all beer and skittles though. Once she put up her umbrella against Newtown and got told if she did not put it down, she would get hit over the head. At the 1967 GF Souths were winning and as she got up to cheer a Canterbury supporter stole the cushion she was sitting on and took off. Her son Martin loved Souths. He would make sure he was there early to get a good seat.

The 1971 Grand Final

One, almost sad story, was told of a poor St.George supporter on the day of the 1971 GF. Saints were in all three grades. This supporter turned up with an esky full of the finest food money could buy with the intention of a big celebration at the end of the day. By the end of the three games, it became apparent that Saints were not going to win ONE grade. The unfortunate fellow said that he had lost his appetite, opening the esky for anybody to share. Souths supporters around him were very appreciative.

Old Football Jumpers

As a child, like many other children, I would don a footy jumper and go out into the backyard and recreate the big footy match.

Perc was the secretary of Souths Reserve grade team for many years. One of his duties would be to make sure Souths were properly dressed when they went on the field. He would have to replace any worn, ripped or torn jumpers.

Perc would bring home discarded footy jumpers. Hazel was a wiz with a sewing machine. She would put together the ‘spare parts’ of players jumpers and make smaller ones for her boys and the neighbourhood kids to play backyard footy in.

Well, there was a little boy named Steven next door. He was 2 years old. He desperately wanted a jumper that had a number on the back so he could play footy with the ‘big boys’. Hazel got to work and in no time had made one just for him with the number ‘1/2’ on the back. He loved it so much he slept in it.

The Big Card

Hazel just recently turned 93. Her whole family down to the great grand kids, made her a huge card. The family took it a game with the hope of maybe getting a signature or two. Coming to the player’s enclosure they were denied entry. Mark, a trainer, heard their story and arranged for them to enter under his name.

Jai Arrow, who was out injured that day, heard about their story and agreed to put his signature on the card. ‘Give it me’, he said. Jai took the card into the ‘inner sanctum’ and came back out a little while later bearing signatures from the WHOLE team. He explained that Sam Burgess was a little hesitant as he was not a player anymore. However, signed it anyway. Little did he know that Hazel had a spring in her voice as she told me this because Sam is still her favourite player.

I have heard the family are going to frame it.

Percy Horne’s Passing

Percy retired in 1975 after having a mishap on a slippery floor and moved to Cronulla. He had given over 65 years of service to South Sydney in one way or another.

Percy Horne passed away on 21st January 1990 at Cronulla, 99 years old. With his passing the chapter closed on a man who had given his life to the service of South Sydney.

Hazel comes from good stock. She is ONLY 93!

PS. A lot of the photos used in this report come from Hazels’ personal collection. A big thank you to her and her son for making copies and then allowing us to use them.

Percy Horne And His Wonderful Niece.

By Mark Emery for Bunnies TV.