Arthur Halloway

Champion halfback's career stands testimony to the fact that there will always be a place for the little man in rugby league. 'Pony' Halloway defected from Sydney's RU ranks to play against the NZ 'All Golds' in 1907 and was recruited by Glebe for their first season. That year, he represented NSW before touring England with the pioneer Kangaroos. Incredibly, Halloway appeared in 29 matches on tour including the First Test against England as five-eighth. When former Wallaby captain Chris McKivat joined Glebe in 1909, Halloway left for Balmain and the two 'greats' battled for the top halfback position for the remainder of their careers. A courageous player for his size (1.65m) Halloway had great ball skills despite having lost a finger in a work accident (the day he had his finger severed, he turned up to play a match with his hand heavily bandaged). He was halfback for the series against NZ in 1909 but McKivat won out the following year against England. Both players toured with the 1911-12 ‘Australasian’ Kangaroos but Halloway did not play a Test in England (but appeared in 12 other matches). At Easts, the club won premierships in 1912-13 and Halloway played in all three Tests against England in 1914 before moving back to Balmain. He went on to play in the champion Tigers teams that won premierships between 1915-17 and 1919-20 - the last four as captain. In 1919 Halloway led Australia on the first tour of NZ, and captained Australia in three Tests. Moving to Queensland he represented that state in the fourth match of the 1921 interstate series (although this was not a truly representative Queensland team but one made up entirely of players from Ipswich and Toowoomba). It is estimated that Halloway played in 103 representative matches between 1907 and 1921. After his retirement, he coached Newtown (1923), the champion Easts club (1930-31, 1933-38 and 1945) as well as Norths (1941) and C’bury (1948). In a remarkable career Halloway won 11 premiership medallions - Easts 1912-13, Balmain 1915-17, 1919-20 and Easts 1935-37, 1945 (as coach). He and passed away in 1961, age 76.