Albert "Alby" Thorne was an 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 1930s and 1940s. He represented the New South Wales Police rugby league team and the Sydney Colts.

Playing career

Thorne played three seasons with South Sydney of the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

in 1935, 1936 and 1942 (not playing a game in 1937). He debuted in round 6 against Newtown in 1935. He played on the wing, and Souths ended up winning 17–11. This was Thorne's only game of the season. Souths lost the grand final to Eastern Suburbs 19–3 in front of 22,106 people at

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. In 1937, Thorne scored his first and only career goal in a 49–9 win in round 6 against

University A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

(who only won one game for the season and collected their seventh wooden spoon in eight seasons). Souths' centre, Alan Quinlivan scored five tries that game. It wasn't until round 11 that Thorne scored his first career try, although his team ended up losing 15–16 to the Jets. He played six games that season and scored another try to total two tries for that season. Souths finished seventh out of nine, missing the finals for the first time since 1922 and it was the first time the team had finished below 4th since 1921. Thorne made a comeback to the Souths in 1942. In his first game of the season, Thorne scored three tries off the interchange, despite being absent from playing since August, 1937. Souths won that game 18–14 against Easts. In round 3, Thorne scored his final try of the season and his career, in a 2-point loss to the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

. He scored four tries that season, only making two appearances. Souths missed the finals for the third straight time. Thorne played one representative game for the New South Wales Police in a 10–7 win against Sydney Firsts in April, 1936. The team however never played another game. He also played a game for the Sydney Colts, scoring one try in a 18–15 win against

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

. The Colts led 18–2 at half time, before hanging onto the lead after Goulburn added on 13 points in the second half. This ended up being the only time the Colts ever won a game.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Alby Australian rugby league players Year of birth missing Place of birth missing Year of death missing South Sydney Rabbitohs players Rugby league wingers