{"id":85,"date":"2019-09-29T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T10:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/?page_id=85"},"modified":"2019-11-27T14:36:13","modified_gmt":"2019-11-27T03:36:13","slug":"history-of-chelsea-united-jrfc","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/history-of-chelsea-united-jrfc\/","title":{"rendered":"History Of Chelsea United JRFC"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-page\" data-elementor-id=\"85\" class=\"elementor elementor-85\" data-elementor-post-type=\"page\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-45ce35a elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"45ce35a\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column 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class=\"elementor-item menu-link\" tabindex=\"-1\">Sponsors<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\t\t\t<\/nav>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1a91416 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1a91416\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ede6fe0\" data-id=\"ede6fe0\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-add369b elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"add369b\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">The Chelsea Story<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1229fbc elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"1229fbc\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h5>\u00a0<\/h5><h4><span class=\"ft5\" style=\"font-size: 1.33333rem;\">What is the history of this mob called <\/span><span style=\"font-size: 1.33333rem;\">Chelsea Eagles Rugby League Club ?<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft7\">When The Black and Gold Eagle Soared !!!<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft8\">A SHORT HISTORY OF CHELSEA UNITED\u00a0<\/span>RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB 1951 &#8211; 2006<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft8\">Complete Club records were never kept and most <\/span>documentation has since been lost.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4>After 60 years so many past members are deceased but by searching the Souths Juniors archives and probing the minds of dedicated ex members, we present this condensed essay, with apologies to those we may have excluded.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft8\">Chelsea United R.L.F.C. as you know it, was formed\u00a0<\/span>in 1951 by George and Stan Ryan. The name comes from Chelsea Street in Redfern. The original club colours were a gold jumper with a black V and black and gold hooped socks.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4>This soon changed to two thin black V\u2019s.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4>A team called Chelsea had won the Souths Junior League A grade in 1935. Their colours were red, white and blue. They ceased to exist by the start of World War 2<\/h4><div><span style=\"font-size: 15px;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea started when the Junior League was strong and\u00a0<\/span>S.S. Fernleighs were dominant in our area. Fernleighs<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">had won three A grade comps on the trot.<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Alexandria\u00a0<\/span>Rovers won eleven comps between 1949 and 1954. Moore Park did not come into our area before the end of the fifties. The early years were extremely tough but Chelsea managed to win a consolation A Reserve knockout in 1953.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">The Club branched out and fielded a C grade cricket\u00a0<\/span>team in the Moore Park Association in seasons 1953-54<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">and 1954-55. The Club had moderate success before in<\/span>terest dwindled. Some of the players to perform with<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">distinction were J. Dack, A. Smith, J. Phillips, J. Byr<\/span>nes, R. Ryan, R. Hough, P. Bower and J. Owens.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">But let\u2019s get back to football! First success came in\u00a0<\/span>1954 when the B grade beat Alexandria Rovers 6-5 at Redfern Oval in a tense Grand Final. Ray Burns landed\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1.33333rem;\">three goals. Rovers had won five previous consecutive\u00a0<\/span>Premierships but it was to be our day in the sun.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea won the B grade again the following year,\u00a0<\/span>1955, in spite of many selection problems caused by National Service Training. Come 1956 and a nursery of\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1.33333rem;\">stars in E grade produced a welcome Premiership. Dick<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Green scored under the post and a mystery punter had\u00a0<\/span>two thousand pounds on Chelsea. Each of our lads was<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">given five pounds by the gentleman&#8230;a big bonus at that\u00a0<\/span>time.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">By now the Club was moving towards a golden period,\u00a0<\/span>1958 and 1959 would see Chelsea win the A, D and F<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">grades as well as the Club Championship.<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea\u00a0<\/span>United B grade played Bondi United at the Sydney Cricket Ground in 1958 as a curtain raiser before a<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">large crowd. Coach Roy Murphy saw his boys rise to\u00a0<\/span>the occasion and run out winners 21-3. Chelsea had ar-<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">rived!<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">The Club won the E grade and a third consecutive Club\u00a0<\/span>Championship in 1960. That was followed by wins in C<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">and D grades in 1961 and 1962. The C grade made it\u00a0<\/span>three in a row in 1963 as well as a fourth Club Champi-<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">onship. 1964 saw the magic of Les Brown steer the E\u00a0<\/span>grade to a third victory.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In actual fact Chelsea United had won thirteen Premier<\/span>ships and four Club Championships in seven seasons, at<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">a time when Souths Juniors were a mighty force in\u00a0<\/span>Rugby League circles.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea had four captains who held up the President\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>Cup trophy. Barry Atkinson 1963 and 1964, Jim Norman 1965 and Les Brown in 1968. Barry Atkinson was the only player ever to represent Souths Juniors in four<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">consecutive President\u2019s Cup Premierships. Chelsea had\u00a0<\/span>no less than thirty five representatives in ten of the<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Souths Juniors President\u2019s Cup victories.<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In 1962 Chelsea had five representatives in the Souths\u00a0<\/span>Juniors H. Flegg victorious team being Alan Webb,<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Norm Hazzard, Ron Black, Gary Wildman and John\u00a0<\/span>Shortland, as well as five representatives with the President\u2019s Cup premiers viz: Warren Thompson, Herbie Martin, Barry Atkinson, Wayne Stevens and Col Downing. Robert Corkhill was ball boy as well as the C grade premier\u2019s ball boy.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Then again in 1963 Chelsea had seven representatives\u00a0<\/span>with the President\u2019s Cup premiers in Barry Atkinson (c), Herbie Martin, Col Downing, Wayne Stevens, Dave Martin, Ken Vessey and Graham Kennedy. One could argue that Bob Degan missed out because of a large<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea representation. He had a stellar club year in<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">1962.<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">There can never be any doubts that Chelsea was a very\u00a0<\/span>proud family club.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">The number of our teams were reduced during the sev<\/span>enties but Chelsea still won the A grade Premiership.<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">The decline continued as we got on with our lives but a\u00a0<\/span>fourth A grade Premiership came in 1986. Pat O\u2019Grady<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">started to have health problems and Ike Quinn, Don\u00a0<\/span>Holman, Glen Harrison and Ray Teuma battled hard to<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">keep Chelsea alive in rough times.<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Glen Harrison coached the last Chelsea Premiers when\u00a0<\/span>they won the under eleven division in 1995. The Chel-<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">sea Old Boy\u2019s Reunions were organised by Pat\u00a0<\/span>O\u2019Grady, Ike Quinn, Dick Green, Warren Thompson, Glen Harrison and Ray Teuma. Warren Thompson, Col Downing, Ken Vessey and Alan Webb now work to keep the Old Boy\u2019s Reunion in motion.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Chelsea United ceased competition football in 2006.<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In its heyday, the Club was financed by the Friday and\u00a0<\/span>Sunday night cabarets at the notorious Doherty Hall in Surry Hills, the sale of football doubles, (as many as twenty two sets per week) and generous support from the Crown, Bat and Ball, Cleveland Inn and Forresters hotels. Other supporters were Nick James cafe, Bob Barton tailors, local barber John Macalpine and bootmaker Harry Blandy.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">The Club held annual Balls and ran Benefit Nights for\u00a0<\/span>those in need. We shall not speak of the naughty strippers and blue movies!<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Our original training ground was Moore Park, opposite\u00a0<\/span>the Bat and Ball Hotel and at the finish it was Waterloo Oval. After Thursday night training, we had a quiet drink at the Crown that often became rowdy.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In retrospect, the calibre of the playing roster and astute\u00a0<\/span>officials became a recipe for success. Let me present<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">some examples:-<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Bob Hough started playing D grade in 1951 as a mere\u00a0<\/span>12 year old and played until 1961. Many times he played B and A grades on the same weekend. He was a member of 1958 and 1959 A grade wins. He captained the President\u2019s Cup runners-up in those same years. He coached the F Grade Premiers in 1959, and D grade Premiers in 1961 and played first grade for Souths in 1962. We estimate Bob played between 150-160 games for Chelsea United.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Keith Phillips played in four Chelsea competition wins\u00a0<\/span>and many times played B and A grade on the same weekend carrying injuries. He may well have played the most A grade games, served on the committee and never stopped supporting the club to become a worthy life member.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In that same game Harry Phillips sustained a lacerated\u00a0<\/span>scalp, went to hospital for stiches, returned late in the second half and did his part.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">In 1962 the C grade ran on with only ten men against\u00a0<\/span>Maroubra at Snape Park. Our team was decimated by because of President\u2019s Cup duty, so we arranged for Larry Gaffney and John Rankin to come from their Kensington Oval D grade match. They were to come off early if the win had been secured. They arrived just before half time to sign on. We won that game 9-3 thanks to a master class from Bob Degan. Bob could play lock, hooker or five eight. He later broke his leg playing reserve grade for Souths and was unable to play the last nine games. He missed a sponsor\u2019s motor car prize for best player by a couple of points.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">There were five Woods brothers playing for Chelsea in\u00a0<\/span>1964. They each played in a different grade viz: B, C, F, G and I. They were a very well known family from Froghollow, all clever footballers and quicksilver at the dinner table. Neville Woods was a smart dresser and a passionate punter.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">It is fraught with danger in attempting to select any\u00a0<\/span>group of players from the life span of a club: Be that as it may, some of the toughest I ever saw from Chelsea United were:- Billy McCarthy, Alan Selby, Sam Votano, Brian Fuz, Gary Stevens, Butch Kennedy, Bob McCarthy, Don Ryan, Ken Vessey, Ron Tubb, Bob Hough, Toby O\u2019Brien, Ray Phillips and Thommo Walsh.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft2\">POINT SCORERS:<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Bob Hough was leading point scorer in A and B grades.\u00a0<\/span>Peter Atkinson and Brian Trenholme each scored 8 tries<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">in a match.\u00a0<\/span>Des Lewis played for Pat O\u2019Grady coached teams and in the lower grades was a prolific point scorer.<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Ray Burns must have kicked a mountain of goals.<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft2\">A SELECTION OF FAVOURITE CHELSEA\u00a0<\/span>CHARACTERS<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Stan (Pongo) Ryan, Big Jim Feint, Tom (The) Brown,\u00a0<\/span>Midge White, Jim (Jungle) Norman, Eric (Duke) Degan, Sid (Silent) Howell, Crown Hotel Licensee \u2013 The Governor, Leo Garland, John (Hoofty) Moore, Pat Norton, Pat (The Pog) O\u2019Grady, Digger Livingston, John (Hollywood) Graham, Dick (Calculator) Green, Freddy Bieber, Barry Bieber and Johnny Heard.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Barry Bieber played President\u2019s Cup and against Great\u00a0<\/span>Britain when he was in the Central Queensland representative,b team. He is a Vice President of the Souths\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 1.33333rem;\">Juniors and current masseuse for Souths S.G.Ball and\u00a0<\/span>Harold Matthews Cup squads. His brother Ken sustained a football injury and tragically passed away in his twenty first year.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">There you have a condensed period of efforts over fifty\u00a0<\/span>five years.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">To all we have mentioned and those we have not, many\u00a0<\/span>thanks for your contribution. We had a lot of fun and many made friends for life.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">South Sydney District R.L. Club was the PRIDE OF\u00a0<\/span>THE LEAGUE and there was a time when CHELSEA UNITED was the pride of the powerful SOUTH SYDNEY JUNIOR RUGBY LEAGUE.<\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Thanks for the memories<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">Fred Hailwood<\/span><\/h4><h4><span class=\"ft1\">September 2011<\/span><\/h4><h4>\u00a0<\/h4>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Chelsea Story \u00a0 What is the history of this mob called Chelsea Eagles Rugby League Club ? \u00a0 When The Black and Gold Eagle Soared !!! \u00a0 A SHORT HISTORY OF CHELSEA UNITED\u00a0RUGBY LEAGUE CLUB 1951 &#8211; 2006 \u00a0 Complete Club records were never kept and most documentation has since been lost. \u00a0 After [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"elementor_canvas","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"no-sidebar","site-content-layout":"page-builder","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"disabled","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-85","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":899,"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/85\/revisions\/899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chelseaoldmates.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}