Wally Messenger

Wally Messenger (1891–1961) was the youngest son of Charles A. Messenger and Annie (née Atkinson). He was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1910s and into the 1920s. He was a state and national representative winger whose club career was played with Eastern Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership.

Wally Messenger

Personal information
Full name	Walter Messenger
Born	1891 Woollahra, New South Wales, Australia
Died	1 January 1961 Clareville, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Wing
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1912–20 Eastern Suburbs 98 50 237 0 624 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1913–14 New South Wales 2 0 0 0 0 1914 Australia 2 1 3 0 9
Source: [1]

The younger brother of league great Dally Messenger,[2] Wally Messenger won premierships with Easts in NSWRFL season 1912 and NSWRFL season 1913, playing with his brother as captain.

He made two Test appearances for Australia national rugby league team in the 1914 domestic Ashes series, kicking three goals on debut[3] and scoring a try in the deciding test of the series. He represented for New South Wales in one match against Queensland also in 1914.

For the 1915 season, he was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point-scorer. Wally Messenger is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.93.[4]

The Rorke’s Drift Rugby League Test Match of 1914

Wally Messenger was prominent in perhaps the most legendary game of Rugby League ever chronicled. It was described as Rorke's Drift, an analogy to an outnumbered embattled group of British soldiers in Southern Africa who won a victory over a much larger and formidable army of Zulu warriors (1879).

It was the third Test Match of Australia versus Great Britain, played in Sydney on the July 4, 1914. Great Britain, playing three men short owing to a string of injuries, nevertheless, by heroic and fiercely resolute play, won the Test, 14 points to 6. On the Australian side Wally Messenger scored one of their two tries.[5]

References

1. Yesterday's Hero
2. "Player Profile - Wally Messenger". yesterdayshero.com.au. SmartPack International. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
3. "sportsmem.com.au". 1914 Australian RL Jersey Maroon & Blue Hoops. Michael Fahey - Sports Memorabilia Australia. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
4. ARL Annual Report 2005, page 52
5. Gate, Robert, Rugby League, An Illustrated History, George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, London SW4, 1989 pp48-49 ISBN 0 213 16970 3