Charlie Hedley (1881–1942) 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. He was one of his country's first national representative players appearing in the inaugural professional series against New Zealand in 1907 and making the

1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the first ever such tour for the newly-formed Australia national rugby league team (or 'The Kangaroos'). The tour was to England and Wales and coincided with the first Wallabies Rugby Union tour of ...

Playing career

Hedley had been a Glebe

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 ...

player before he joined the

Glebe A glebe (, also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s)) is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved to the church. ...

rugby league club in its inaugural 1908 season. He had been one of the pioneers who was barred from the amateur code when selected in the inaugural New South Wales professional rugby side who met Albert Baskiville's rebel All Golds when the arrived in Sydney in 1907 for a series played in rugby union rules. He was selected to play at in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was debut match of the

Australia national rugby league team The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Com ...

. Following his first season with Glebe in 1908 – the inaugural season for rugby league in Australia, he was selected as part of the

to go on the

. He played in seventeen matches of the tour including the third Test against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Upon his return he played two season with the Annandale club in Sydney. He was awarded Life Membership of the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

in 1914.

Death

Hedley died suddenly at his Leichhardt home on 13 August 1942 with his wife and two children at his side. He was buried at

Rookwood Cemetery Rookwood Cemetery (officially named Rookwood Necropolis) is a heritage-listed cemetery in Rookwood, Sydney, Australia. It is the largest necropolis in the Southern Hemisphere and is the world's largest remaining operating cemetery from the ...

on Saturday 15 August 1942.

References

Bibliography

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney 1881 births 1942 deaths Annandale rugby league players Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Glebe rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales Date of birth missing New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1880s-stub