Harry Bath (28 November 1924 – 4 October 2008), born Alfred Henry Bath, also known by the

nickname A nickname, in some circumstances also known as a sobriquet, or informally a "moniker", is an informal substitute for the proper name of a person, place, or thing, used to express affection, playfulness, contempt, or a particular character trait ...

of "The Old Fox", 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 and coach who was prominent and influential in the mid-20th century. A state and international representative who played 12 matches for Other Nationalities in the International Championship from 1949 to 1955, he played as a and has been referred to as the best Australian rugby league player never to be picked for the Australian national team. Following his retirement, Bath coached in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League 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 ...

for two decades, also achieving selection as the Australian national team coach.

Playing career

Australia

Bath, to be known late in his career as 'the Old Fox', was graded as a sixteen-year-old to play for the Brisbane club Southern Suburbs in 1940. After six years with the club, including selection to represent Queensland, he moved to Sydney to play for the Balmain club in New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1946. He represented

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

in 1945 and

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 ...

in 1946 after one Sydney season. In the 1946 fixture for NSW against the touring

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

side he badly injured his leg and so was unavailable for

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

Test selection a week later. Also in his first season for Balmain, Bath helped his side reach the Grand Final in which they defeated

St. George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

13–12. In 1947 he again won a premiership with the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995 to 1996) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and on ...

. He was also selected to play for Australia against a touring England side that year but injured his leg in a club match and was prevented from playing in any of the three tests. A year later he again helped Balmain reach their second Grand Final appearance and a 13–9 victory over the Canterbury-Bankstown club.

England

Harry Bath then accepted an offer to play in Britain for Barrow. The forward only stayed at Barrow for six months before being signed by

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

. He spent a total of nine seasons with Warrington, playing 346 games for the club. Harry Bath played at and was

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

's 19–0 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

in the 1949–50 Challenge Cup Final during the 1949–50 season at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

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on Saturday 6 May 1950, in front of a crowd of 94,249, played in the 4–4 draw with Halifax in the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final during the 1953–54 season at

on Saturday 24 April 1954, in front of a crowd of 81,841, and played at , and scored a

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in the 8–4 victory over Halifax in the 1953–54 Challenge Cup Final replay during the 1953–54 season at

Odsal Stadium Odsal Stadium (known as Bartercard Odsal Stadium for sponsorship reasons) is a multi-purpose stadium, multipurpose stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium is currently the home of Bradford Bulls rugby league football club and ...

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on Wednesday 5 May 1954, in front of a record crowd of 102,575 or more. Bath's reputation as a skillful ball-player and a great goal-kicker grew while playing in Britain. He scored over 700 goals in his career, including 173 goals in 1952–53 when he was the season's leading goal kicker. Bath played at in

's 8–14 defeat by

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the 1948–49 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1948–49 season at Station Road, Swinton on Saturday 13 November 1948, and played at in the 5–28 defeat by

in the 1950–51 Lancashire Cup Final during the 1949–50 season at Station Road, Swinton on Saturday 4 November 1950. He played for the British Empire XIII versus

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

on Wednesday 23 January 1952 at Stamford Bridge.

Return to Australia

Bath returned to Australia in 1957 and joined

after his former club Balmain decided against a signing due to his age of 33. In the

1957 NSWRFL season 1957's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 50th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand f ...

St. George were premiers, winning the Grand Final against Manly-Warringah 31–9. He was the leading point scorer in the competition in

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the thir ...

scoring a season club record of 225 points (3 tries, 108 goals). His 16-point tally in the Grand Final has never been equaled. In 1958 St. George again made it to the Grand Final this time defeating Western Suburbs 20–9. Bath again topped the season's point scoring table, totalling 211 points. The following season St. George again won the premiership with a 20–0 Grand Final victory over Manly. Bath was sent off in the Grand Final for fighting with Manly's Rex Mossop. It has been suggested that Bath was punished by the Australian selectors for the ten years he spent in the English league. However he was 33 years old when he returned to Australia for his last three seasons and he was then competing for a representative position against star players

Norm Provan Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St. George Dragons during the first ten of ...

and Rex Mossop. He retired at the end of 1959 at the age of 35.

Playing records

Bath became the only player to have won a premiership in every season of his Sydney first-grade career (1946 and 1947 with Balmain and 1957, 1958, and 1959 with St. George). His eight goals from eight attempts in the 1957 Grand Final is the standing record for the most goals in a grand final and the most points scored in a grand final (16). He holds two places in the record of top point scorers in one season by position. His 205 points scored in 1959 are the most ever scored by a in a season and the 225 points of 1958 stands as the most ever scored by a in a season.

Coaching career

Bath took up a career in rugby league coaching and joined the inaugural

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

coaching panel in 1961. He was selected manager, coach and as the sole selector for the Australian national team's 1962 Ashes series. Bath's greatest achievement in coaching the national side was leading the Kangaroos to

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

glory in the

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

and

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

World Cups. He also coached the team on tours of New Zealand in 1969 and 1971. He coached the national side in the 1972 World Cup in which they lost to Great Britain in controversial circumstances. The World Cup Final was tied at 10–10 after full-time and was still locked after extra time. Great Britain were awarded the victory due to a higher points table placing after the pool rounds of the competition. Harry Bath also took the coaching helm at his former club Balmain. He guided them to Grand Final appearances in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

and

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

both lost against St. George 6–11 and 4–23 respectively. He also coached Newtown between 1969 and 1972. He came out of retirement to coach his other former club St. George Dragons to premiership success in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. The Grand Final against

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

was drawn 9–9 but St. George won the replay 22–0. He again coached the Dragons to premiership success in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

after their 17–13 Grand Final victory over Canterbury. His side was nicknamed 'Bath's Babes' due to the side's youthful roster. He retired from Rugby League coaching in 1981.

Accolades

Bath was recognised in 2004 for his outstanding achievements in playing and coaching rugby league when was inducted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The National Rugby League Hall of Fame was first established as the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2002, before being reestablished in 2018 in its current form. The hall of fame honours the contributions made to the National Rugby League ...

. In February 2008, Bath was named in a list of Australia's '' 100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Bath is also a Warrington RLFC Hall of Fame inductee. On 20 July 2022, Bath was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Club's team of the century.

Death

Bath died after a long illness on 4 October 2008, 55 days short of his 84th birthday. "Harry's loss will be felt by many within the game", NRL boss David Gallop said. "He is one of the few people to have a distinguished career as both a player and a coach." His funeral was held at St. Andrew's Church, Cronulla on 9 October 2008 and he was cremated at Woronora Memorial Park. A largely attended wake was held for Harry at the St. George Leagues Club after the funeral service.Sydney Morning Herald 9/10/2008 – Obituary "Harry Bath" His ashes have been memorialised at Woronora Memorial Park at Henry Lawson Garden Walk, section GWR no. 0135

References

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney