Arthur Oxford

Arthur Thomas Oxford (1894–1980) was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative whose club career was played with the Eastern Suburbs Roosters and the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 1915 to 1929.

Arthur Oxford

Personal information
Full name	Arthur Thomas Oxford
Born	27 June 1894 Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Died	1 June 1980 (aged 85) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Hooker
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1915–21 South Sydney 76 18 121 0 296 1922–29 Eastern Suburbs 103 18 257 0 568 Total 179 36 378 0 864 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1919–24 Australia 5 1 7 0 17 1919–24 New South Wales 17 3 38 0 85 1925 Queensland 1 0 1 0 2 1920–22 Metropolis 3 1 4 0 11
Source: [1]

Club career

A noted point scorer, Oxford played with South Sydney for 7 seasons between 1915–1921. He won a premiership with Souths in NSWRL season 1918.

Oxford then switched to Eastern Suburbs for another 7 seasons between 1922–1929, winning the premiership with them in NSWRL season 1923.[2]

In 1920 he kicked a then record 23 successive goals in club matches for South Sydney Rabbitohs. In the season 1923, he was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point scorer with 113 points (5 tries and 49 goals). Oxford was also Captain of Sydney Roosters on many occasions.

In 1927 he overtook Harold Horder's record for the most points scored in an NSWRFL career (758); Oxford's eventual total of 864 stood as the new career record for twenty seasons until it was bettered by Tom Kirk in 1946. Oxford's total club career tally over fourteen seasons was 36 tries and 136 goals for 864 points.[3]

Arthur Oxford is Eastern Suburbs player number 127.[4]

Representative career

He represented for New South Wales in twenty-two matches against Queensland from 1919 - 1924. He made five Test appearances in the Australia national rugby league team touring against New Zealand in 1919 and later against Great Britain. In 1925 during a season as captain-coach of Rockhampton in Queensland he was selected as a Queensland representative, playing one match in 1925 making him the only player to represent both states.

Family

His son, also called Arthur Oxford, played first grade for Easts in the 1944, 1948,1949 and 1950; his other son Kevin played lower grades for Easts. His grandsons Gary, Wayne and Brett Stevens and Colin Oxford played for South Sydney. Gary Stevens was a South Sydney Rabbitohs star of the 1960s and 1970s and an Australian Test representative.[5]

Arthur Oxford died on 1 June 1980, 26 days short of his 86th birthday.

References

1. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/arthur-oxford/summary.html
2. "Men's Honour Roll". Sydney Roosters.
3. http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org
4. List of Sydney Roosters Players- Wikipedia
5. Alan Whiticker, Glen Hudson: Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players

External links

• Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au

1. Heads, Ian and Middleton, David (2008) A Centenary of Rugby League, MacMillan Sydney