Jack Hickey (rugby)

Jack 'Darb' Hickey (4 January 1887 – 15 May 1950)[2] was an Australian rugby union and pioneer professional rugby league footballer and represented his country at both sports.

Jack Hickey
Hickey posing with test cap and team kit
Birth nameJohn Joseph Hickey[1]
Date of birth4 January 1887[1]
Place of birthSydney, NSW[1]
Date of death15 May 1950(1950-05-15) (aged 63)[1]
Place of deathDarlinghurst, New South Wales
Rugby league career
Position(s) Three-quarter
Senior career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1910-15 Glebe 54 (100)
1911 Balmain 10 (26)
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1910 Australia 2 (5)
Rugby union career
Position(s) centre[1]
National team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1908-09 Australia[1] 2 (0)
Medal record
Men's rugby union
Representing  Australasia
Olympic Games
1908 LondonTeam competition

He was one of Australia's early dual-code rugby internationals.

He competed in the 1908 Summer Olympics in rugby union and was notable for scoring the first ever try for the Australian national side in a rugby league test match.

Rugby union career

Hickey toured Britain and North America with the Wallabies captained by Paddy Moran in 1908-09. He earned two Test caps against Wales and England on the tour and was a member of the Olympic gold medal winning Wallabies at the 1908 London games. On his return to Australia he joined the fledgling code of rugby league along with 13 of his Olympic teammates.

Hickey front row 2nd from right, with the 1908 Wallaby tour squad
1908 Olympic Gold Final Wallabies v Cornwall.

Rugby league career

Hickey made his international league debut in the First Test in Sydney on 18 June 1910. Four of his former Wallaby team mates also debuted that day John Barnett, Bob Craig, Charles Russell and Chris McKivat - making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals. This mirrored a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in Micky Dore, Dally Messenger, Denis Lutge, Doug McLean snr and John Rosewell all debuted for the Kangaroos in the first ever Test against New Zealand.

He played in both rugby league Tests of the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australasia, the first ever, and scored the first ever try for Australia in a rugby league Test Match. Darb Hickey played 4 seasons with Glebe (rugby league team) and one season at Balmain Tigers during his club career.

Death

"Darb' Hickey died of cancer on 15 May 1950 at the Sacred Heart Hospice, St. Vincent's Hospital. He was aged 63 and was survived by his eight children. A well attended funeral was held for Darb, and he was buried at Rookwood Cemetery on 16 May 1950.[3]

See also

Footnotes
  1. "Scrum.com player profile of Jack Hickey". Scrum.com. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
  2. other sources gave his date of birth 16 January 1887
  3. Sydney Morning Herald: Death/Funeral Notice. 16 May 1950 (p. 18)

References
  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
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