Kenneth Richard "Arko" Arthurson AM (born 1 October 1929) is 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 ...

football identity. Affectionately known as "The Godfather of Manly", he played, coached and was later an administrator at the

Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League sea ...

club in the

New South Wales Rugby 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 ...

. Later he ran the

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 ...

, and then the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission Limited (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League Limited known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australi ...

during the 1990s'

Super League war The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s. Sup ...

, resigning in 1997 as part of the peace process for creating the unified

National Rugby League 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 ...

Background

Born in the Sydney suburb of

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. ...

, Ken Arthurson became a rugby league footballer through the Freshwater Surf Club, playing in their 1945 D-Grade premiership win alongside another future

legend, and the club's first home-grown

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 ...

international,

Roy Bull Roy Bull (12 June 1929 – 29 June 2004) 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 s ...

Playing career

Ken Arthurson made his first grade debut in the

1950 NSWRFL season The 1950 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-third season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. Ten teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season which culmina ...

for the three-year-old Manly-Warringah club under the coaching of former Kangaroo tourist and Australian test captain

Wally O'Connell Wally O'Connell OAM (6 April 1923 – 28 June 2017) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He was a for the Australian national team. He played in ten Tes ...

, who had moved to Manly from Eastern Suburbs. Arko played at half-back in Manly-Warringah's first

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

appearance in the 1951 NSWRFL Grand Final against the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, New South Wales, Maroubra that competes in the Nat ...

at the

Sydney Sports Ground The Sydney Sports Ground No. 1 was a stadium and dirt track racing venue in Sydney, New South Wales. The ground was located where the car park of the Sydney Football Stadium (SFS) currently sits. The ground had two main grandstands and was sur ...

. The day didn't go as planned for the Sea Eagles though as Souths ran out easy 42-14 winners. Although Manly were easily defeated by Souths, they gained respect around the league for having reached the Grand Final in just their fifth year in the premiership having joined in

1947 It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Events January * January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country i ...

(fellow 1947 entrant

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 ...

did not play their first Grand Final until

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

, a 13–10 loss to Manly). Arthurson, by then regarded as one of the best young halfbacks in the league, then played another full season at Manly in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, before accepting the role of

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

with NSW Country Group 11 team

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

' for 1953. His reason for leaving Manly and going to Parkes was that with players such as Australian and NSW halfback Keith Holman generally being the first picked for representative teams ( City Firsts,

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

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 ...

), Arthurson felt he had a better chance at NSW and Australian selection playing for Country Firsts. Just three weeks into his stint at Parkes in a match between Northern and Southern NSW Zones in April 1953, Ken was badly injured. The 27 April edition of the Parkes Champion Post reported that it 'was early in the game when Ken fell over the goal line and another player, who was following him, fell on top of him, striking ken's head with his knee'. He was rushed to Parkes District Hospital in a serious condition with a fractured skull. Ken had taken part in only two other matches since his arrival. He was later to spend three months in hospital recuperating from his injury and never played Rugby League again.

Coaching career

Arthurson returned to Sydney and coached Manly's third grade team in 1954 and reserve grade in 1955–56. He was first grade coach from 1957 to 1961, making the semi-finals every year and the 1957 Grand Final as a 27-year-old. His side made another Grand Final appearance in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. Unfortunately for Arthurson and Manly, both Grand Finals were played against a

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 R ...

side in the early years of their record run of 11 straight premierships. Arthurson later said that there was no shame to running second to those St George teams whose talent included

Ken Kearney Kenneth Howard "Killer" Kearney (3 May 192418 August 2006) was an Australian rugby footballer – a dual-code international player – and a rugby league coach. He represented the Wallabies in seven Tests, and the Kangaroos in thirty-one Tes ...

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 ...

Eddie Lumsden Edmund Lumsden (28 September 1936 – 6 October 2019) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer. He was a with the St. George Dragons during their eleven-year premiership winning run from 1956 to 1966, playing in and winning ...

, Brian "Poppa" Clay,

Harry Bath Harry Bath (28 November 1924 – 4 October 2008), born Alfred Henry Bath, also known by the nickname of "The Old Fox", was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach who was prominent and influential in the mid-20th century. A state and i ...

and future rugby league Immortal Johnny Raper.

Administration

Following his coaching stint at Manly, Arthurson became the club's secretary, taking over from

Jack Munro William James Munro (1873 – 12 January 1948) was a British trade unionist. Early life Born to British parents in India, Munro's father served in the British Indian Army, and Munro lived there until he was twelve. The family then moved t ...

after Munro's passing in 1963. Arthurson held this post for 20 years, during which time he helped build the Sea Eagles into one of the most successful clubs in the league by use of his negotiating skills and the club's finances, something which made Manly the team others loved to hate (many believe that Arthurson's only rival as a top club administrator in Australia was his close friend, Canterbury-Bankstown's Peter "Bullfrog" Moore). During his time as club secretary, Arko signed players who went on to become legends not only at Manly but also in rugby league. His list of players includes

Graham Eadie Graham "Wombat" Eadie (born 25 November 1953), is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He has been named amongst Australia's finest of the 20th century. A New South Wales State of Origin and Australia ...

Ken Irvine Kenneth John Irvine (5 March 1940 – 22 December 1990), also nicknamed "Mongo", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a ...

, Terry Randall, Mal Reilly, John O'Neill, Ray Branighan, Max Krilich, Phil Lowe,

Paul Vautin Paul Vautin (born 21 July 1959), nicknamed Fatty, is a former Australian rugby commentator and former professional rugby league player, captain and coach. He has provided commentary for the Nine Network's coverage of rugby league since joining ...

, Les Boyd,

Kerry Boustead Kerry Boustead (born 12 August 1959) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the late 1970s, 1980s, & early 1990s. A talented representative for Queensland and Australia, at the time he was picked for the national team he ...

, and possibly his greatest signing, Australian Rugby League Immortal

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and commentated on the game with great success at the highest ...

. As told by people such as Paul "Fatty" Vautin, Arko's negotiating skills often led a player to sign or re-sign with Manly for less money than they were being offered by other clubs. In his biography "The Strife and times of Paul Vautin", Fatty told how in the early 1980s

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and ...

coach Jack Gibson offered him a substantial amount of money to join the Eels. When he told Arthurson about the offer, Arko convinced him that living on the

Northern Beaches The Northern Beaches is a region within Northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia, near the Pacific coast. This area extends south to the entrance of Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour), west to Middle Harbour and north to the ...

and playing for Manly offered him a far better lifestyle than in the western suburbs, including asking Vautin to compare swimming at any of the peninsula's renowned beaches to having to swim in the

Parramatta River The Parramatta River is an intermediate tide-dominated, Ria, drowned valley estuary located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. With an average Altitude, height, and depth, depth of , the Parramatta River is the main tributary of Sydney Harbour ...

, telling him "You'll catch

Typhoid Typhoid fever, also known simply as typhoid, is a disease caused by ''Salmonella enterica'' serotype Typhi bacteria, also called ''Salmonella'' Typhi. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often ther ...

". Fatty ended up re-signing with Manly for more than his previous contract (on the provision that he used at least half of the money to buy a house in the area...another Arthurson incentive to remain at the club), but far less than what Gibson was offering. Arthurson's tireless efforts as secretary of Manly-Warringah paid off big time in the 1970s as the Sea Eagles won the NSWRL premiership in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1973 Events January * January 1 – The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark 1973 enlargement of the European Communities, enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 14 - The 16-0 19 ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

making the club the most successful of the decade. In total, during his 20 years as club secretary, Manly appeared in 8 Grand Finals for four premierships;

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 ...

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 ...

, 1972, 1973, 1976, 1978,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

and

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

. The club also won the Minor premiership in 1971, 1972, 1973, 1976 and 1983, the NSWRFL club championship in 1972 and 1973, the pre-season competition in 1980 and the KB Cup in 1982 and 1983. They also reached the finals series in 1966, 1968-1978 and 1981–1983. In 1984 he became the Chairman of the

(ARL) and in 1986 took over from Tom Bellew as Chairman of the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL). He was made a Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in 1988 "in recognition of (his) service to Rugby League football". In the mid-1990s Arthurson led the ARL's fight against

Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...

's News Ltd in the

. On 28 February 1997, in order to improve the chances of a peace deal with Super League being reached, Arthurson resigned as ARL chairman. Also in 1997, Arthurson released his book, ''Arko, My Game''. On 24 October 2000, Arthurson was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

for his fourteen years presiding over the NSWRL and ARL. The Ken Arthurson Stand, located in the south-eastern corner at

Brookvale Oval Brookvale Oval, currently known as 4 Pines Park for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Brookvale, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Northern Beaches Council and is primarily used by the M ...

and linking the Jane Try and (now)

Lyons Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

stands, is named in his honour and was officially opened by Arthurson and the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Warringah Council Warringah Council was a Local government areas of New South Wales, local government area in the Northern Beaches (Sydney), northern beaches region of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed on 7 March 1906 as the W ...

Brian Green on Sunday 14 June 1995. During his time as head of the ARL, Arthurson also served as President of the Manly Leagues Club until retiring in October 2004.

Honours

In November 2009, Arthurson was awarded the 'Spirit of Rugby League Award' by the

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. The IRL organises the Rugby League World Cup, the oldest international rugby World Cup, as well as the Women's and Wheelchair equivalen ...

, in their inaugural awards presentation. He was inducted into the

Sport Australia Hall of Fame The Sport Australia Hall of Fame was established on 10 December 1985 to recognise the achievements of Australian sportsmen and sportswomen. The inaugural induction included 120 members with Don Bradman, Sir Don Bradman as the first inductee and ...

in 2010. The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles have also named one of their club awards in his honour. The Sea Eagles' Rookie of the Year award is known as the "Ken Arthurson Award - Rookie of the Year".

Retirement

Ken Arthurson currently lives on the Gold Coast in

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 ...

where his love of rugby league has seen him attend NRL games involving the

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

and Manly as a guest of the Titans, though he has stated that his heart will always be at Brookvale and he remains a staunch supporter of his beloved Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles. His second wife Barbara died on 3 August 2022. (subscription required)

References

External links

Ken Arthurson at Unofficial Manly Club Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthurson, Ken 1929 births Living people Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Rugby league halfbacks Rugby league players from Sydney Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Sportsmen from New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen