Eddie Baird

Despite being born in Sydney, Eddie Baird spent his entire playing days north of the border in Queensland.

The son of Irish immigrants who had a most traumatic journey to Australia in 1876. His mother, Jane, was heavily pregnant when she, her husband Edward and their two children Susan (3 years old) and Alexander (18 months old) left Ireland. Before they arrived in Australia, their son Alexander died on board the ship. Soon after arriving in Brisbane, Jane gave birth to another son, William.

The family made their way to Parramatta and in 1884 Edward was born. The family relocated to Brisbane around the turn of the century.

Eddie began playing Rugby Union as a teenager and in 1904 he made his first grade debut for Toowong. The diminutive fullback stood at just 5ft 3in and weighed 59kgs, however was an elusive runner and would occasionally find himself playing in the three-quarter line and in the halves.

In 1907 he was named in a Brisbane juniors representative side, however in 1908 he saw an opportunity to play for his state and was named in Queensland’s first ever Rugby League game on May 16, 1908 against New Zealand. He then lined up for the first ever representative game by a Brisbane side just 4 days later against the touring Kiwi professionals. 3 days later and he was playing them again in his second game for Queensland and the following week he made his Test debut.

He then played in 3 games for Queensland against the touring Maori side before playing in the Maroon’s first two games ever against New South Wales.

He then lined up for North Brisbane in the inaugural season of club Rugby League in Brisbane in 1909. He played in 6 of his sides 7 games, including their 21-11 semi-final loss to South Brisbane.

The competition itself was entirely amateur and at the end of the 1909 season, Baird decided to leave Rugby League to return to Rugby Union. Because he had been an amateur, he was able to return to the rival code and in the 1910 and 1911 seasons, he played for Waratah in the Brisbane competition.

At the start of 1916, Baird decided to join the Army. After a near year of fighting, he was admitted to hospital in mid-December with Laryngitis. He spent a month convalescing before being transferred to France in early 1917 where he suffered briefly from P.U.O (Pyrexia of Unknown Origin), or as it was most commonly known, Trench fever.

After recovering, he was then shifted to the bloody fields in Belgium. In October, while fighting in Ypres, he was one of several thousands of Australian soldiers who died in the first battle of Passchendaele.