Albert Frederick Broomham (1885–1948) was a pioneer Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1900s and 1910s. He represented

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Background

Broomham was born in St. Leonards, New South Wales, in 1885.

Playing career

Broomham was a Norths

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

convert who joined the

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

rugby league club at the new code's foundation in 1908 as a wing three-quarter. Broomham played seven seasons with the

club between 1908 and 1914. He missed the first

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours too ...

after making his State debut in 1908. He then toured New Zealand and played three Tests with the Kangaroos in 1909, and then played two Tests against England in 1910. He again toured with the 1911-12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain where he made his final Test appearance in the first Test against England. Broomham is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No.40. Broomham retired after the

1914 NSWRFL season The 1914 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the seventh season of Sydney's top-grade rugby league football club competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season. The 1914 season's ...

. Broomham's representative career in detail: Australia v's England 1910; Australia v's Maoris 1909; Australia v's New Zealand 1909; Metropoli s(Sydney) v's New Zealand 1909; Metropolis V's Queensland 1908; Australasia v's England 1910; Australasia v's England 1911; Kangaroos v's England in Sydney 1910; Kangaroos v's Rest of N.S.W. 1909; Kangaroos v's Wallabies 1909; N.S.W. v's England 1910; N.S.W. v's Maoris 1908; N.S.W. v's New Zealand 1911,1912,1913; N.S.W. v's Queensland 1910,1911,1912. All up, Broomham represented Australia in five Tests, Australasia in 2 Tests,

on 26 occasions and Metropolis (Sydney) on three occasions. One of Australia's great rugby league pioneers, Broomham died on 23 December 1948, aged 63.Sydney Morning Herald: Death Notice 24/12/1948

References

Australia national rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players North Sydney Bears players Australian rugby league players 1885 births 1948 deaths Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1880s-stub