Jim Davis (1887–1934) 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 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 ...

and then had a patchy first-grade club career in the first decade of the code's popularity in Sydney.

Career

Club

Davis had been a South Sydney

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junior before he joined the new South Sydney rugby league club in its inaugural 1908 season. He initially played three seasons with the club and was sent off in the 1910 Grand Final played against Newtown. He played the

1911 NSWRFL season The 1911 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fourth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the premiership and the ...

with

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 ...

before playing three seasons with the Glebe club. His top-grade career finished up back at Souths in 1918-19 before concluding with a country stint at Parkes.

Representative

Davis made his debut

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

appearance in 1908 against

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 ...

, appearing in both matches of the first rugby league international series played by an Australian representative side. At the end of that season he was selected in the 35-man squad to make the first-ever

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 ...

. Davis played in six tour matches but in none of the three Test matches played. In the 1909 season, he returned to test selection playing in the first test against New Zealand. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 3.

Death

Davis became depressed when unable to find work during the Depression, and in 1934 he killed himself. The inquest into his death was held at

Parkes, New South Wales Parkes is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the main settlement in the local government in Australia, local government area of Parkes Shire. Parkes had a population of 9,83 ...

on 22 February 1934. Davis's body was found in the Peoples Park, Parkes on the morning of 9 February 1934. The deceased's wrists had been cut, and the verdict was suicide. A suicide note was also produced during the Inquest.Western Champion (Parkes, New South Wales):"INQUEST. The Late Jas. Davis. Verdict of Suicide." 23 February 1934. (page 13)

References

Bibliography

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney 1887 births 1934 suicides 1934 deaths Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Suicides in New South Wales South Sydney Rabbitohs players North Sydney Bears players Glebe rugby league players Rugby league second-rows Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Sydney Suicides by sharp instrument in Australia Australian sportspeople who committed suicide 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1880s-stub