Steve Darmody

Steve Darmody (1890–1969) was a pioneer Australian rugby league player. He toured with the Australian national team on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.

Steve Darmody
Birth nameStephen James Darmody
Date of birth(1890-10-12)12 October 1890
Place of birthQueanbeyan, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death8 April 1969(1969-04-08) (aged 78)
Place of deathScotland, United Kingdom
Rugby league career
Position(s) Wing three-quarter
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1911–12 South Sydney Rabbitohs 20 (62)
1912–14 Hull F.C. 89 ()
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1911–12 Australia ()

Career
Darmody middle right with fellow Aussies Devereux & Gilbert in Hull 1914

A promising hurdler in his youth, Darmody joined the South Sydney Club in 1910 initially as a goal-kicking winger. He was chosen for the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain as versatile forward. He played in six minor matches on the tour, kicking nine goals.[1]

Following the tour he stayed in England and along with Herb Gilbert and Jim Devereux he joined Hull F.C. for whom he made 89 appearances between 1912 and 1914. Alongside Gilbert and Devereux, Darmody played as a forward, i.e. number 13, in Hull FC's 6–0 victory over Wakefield Trinity in the 1914 Challenge Cup Final during the 1913–14 season at Thrum Hall, Halifax, in front of a crowd of 19,000.[2]

War service

At the outbreak of World War I, Darmody enlisted in the British Army. He saw service in Flanders as a despatch rider for the Service Corps. His foot was mangled in machinery accident early in the war resulting in the loss of his foot. He had an artificial limb fitted and then re-enlisted.

The Hull club later played a testimonial match for Darmody. In 1921, when the airship R38 Humber split in two and fell onto the city, Darmody searched through the rubble for survivors and was called to give evidence at the coronial inquest.[3]

After the war he ran a motor cycle business in Hull and lived out his later life in Scotland.

Sources
  • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
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References
  1. Whiticker/Hudson p119
  2. Whiticker/Hudson p119
  3. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/kangaroos-who-enlisted-in-world-war-i-were-in-a-league-of-their-own-20140424-zqyh5.html SMH article on Darmody


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