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Sid Deane
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Sid Deane was a foundation Australian rugby league player. He was a Centre for the Australia national team. He played in 5 Tests between 1908 and 1914. In 1914 he became the ninth Australian national captain and the first from the North Sydney Club.
Club careerBorn in North Sydney, he commenced his footballing career with Norths rugby union. He was present at the North Sydney School of Arts in 1907 for the meeting which founded the North Sydney Bears. He was elected onto the players committee and played at five-eighth in the inaugural round of rugby league matches played in Sydney on 20 April 1908.
Following his appearances for Australia on the inaugural Kangaroo tour of England in 1908 several English clubs made offers for him to stay and he reached agreement with the Oldham Roughyeds. For the next four seasons he featured in a star studded team including Arthur Anlezark, Kangaroo Tom McCabe and English repesentatives Jim Lomas, Alf Wood and Albert Avery. Oldham were Championship finalists for each of those four years and won in 1910 and 1911 with Deane as captain.
He had further seasons with North Sydney from 1912 to 1914, then returned to England to play with Hull FC for two seasons 1915-1916. He finished his career with North Sydney in 1919.
In August, 2006 Deane was named in the North Sydney Bears' team of the century.
Representative careerHe made his representative debut for New South Wales in May 1908 against the New Zealand "All Golds" and later that year for a NSW side against the NZ Maori. In July Deane was selected in the Pioneer Kangaroo side to tour England and made his international debut in the centres alongside Dally Messenger in the first Ashes Test on 22 November 1908.
Following Deane's return from the English competition in 1912 he again represented New South Wales against touring New Zealand and English sides.
He captained the Kangaroos in all 3 Tests in 1914 against the visiting England side. Australia won the second Test in July 1914 12-7. This was the first rugby league Test played at the Sydney Cricket Ground and the first Australian home victory against the English.
After footballDeane's wider family contributed to the development of rugby leage in Australia. His brothers Os and Lal both played for North Sydney. Os represented New South Wales and Lal became a first grade and representative level referee. Deane's nephews Bob and Jack Sullivan also played for Norths with Bob representing Australia in 1954.
After retirement he helped run the family sports store and billiards room in North Sydney and was an SP bookmaker in later life.
Matches played| Team | Matches | Years |
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| Club | | | | North Sydney | 35 | 1908-1919 | | Australia (Tests) | 5 | 1908-1914 | |
Sources- Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
- Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
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