Raymond Ernest Stehr (24 January 1913 – 2 June 1983) 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, a

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and

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representative player whose club career was played at Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. He has been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Early life

Stehr was born in the country

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 ...

town of Warialda in 1913 of

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descent. As an eight-year-old child, he was diagnosed an ''incurable cripple'' after developing blood

clot A thrombus ( thrombi) is a solid or semisolid aggregate from constituents of the blood (platelets, fibrin, red blood cells, white blood cells) within the circulatory system during life. A blood clot is the final product of the blood coagulatio ...

s at the base of his spine. He was unable to walk for two years and spent twelve months strapped to a stretcher, completely immobilised with his back encased in a plaster cast. His family moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

in search of some kind of miracle cure and, following a visit to a Chinese

herbalist Herbal medicine (also called herbalism, phytomedicine or phytotherapy) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of many herbal treatments ...

, the clots began to disappear. Nevertheless, Stehr was told not to contemplate playing contact sport. Stehr defied medical opinion, becoming one of rugby league's toughest front rowers.

Club career

First recruited as a schoolboy from Randwick Boys High School by the Eastern Suburbs club in 1928, Stehr made his first-grade debut in a trial match against Newcastle ahead of the 1928 season when he was aged just 15. The following season aged just 16 years and 85 days he made his regular competition debut – still the youngest ever first-grade Australian player. In 1934 Stehr joined the Mudgee club in rural NSW as a captain-coach and also captained

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

in their annual clash against a Sydney representative side. Midway through the 1934 season he rejoined Easts who were defeated by Western Suburbs in the premiership decider that year. Over the next three seasons, Stehr was a member of the Eastern Suburbs side that lost just one match, winning premierships in each of those years –

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

. In 1940 Stehr was captain of the Easts side that captured its 8th premiership. Regular captain-coach Dave Brown pulled out on match day with a leg injury and Stehr led the side to a victory in the final over Canterbury-Bankstown. Following WWII in 1945, he led Eastern Suburbs to further premiership glory. All told he played in 184 matches for Eastern Suburbs a then record.

Representative career

He made his debut for

in 1931 and two years later was selected for the

1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the fifth Kangaroo tour, and took the Australia national rugby league team around the north of England, to London and Paris. The tour also featured the 11th Ashes series which comprised three Te ...

. On tour he played in 26 matches, including two Tests. Stehr played in Test series against

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and

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. In the series against Britain he set an inglorious record when he was sent off in two of the three matches. The uncompromising, no-nonsense front rower was selected for his second Kangaroo tour in 1937–38. All told he represented Australia on 55 occasions and in 11 Tests. He played 33 matches for New South Wales, a tally which stands today at third place in the most games by a player for the state (behind Clive Churchill and

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played from the 19 ...

War service

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

brought a premature end to his test career and Stehr spent war in the services. Stationed in Darwin, Stehr was named captain of a North Australian representative side in a match against

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Post-playing

During his career, the uncompromising front row forward had a short stint as a professional Boxer After playing retirement in 1946, he remained involved with the game. He was coach at Manly in 1947-48 and Easts in 1949. A sports journalist – Stehr wrote a column, for many years, in a Sydney newspaper and worked in television media. He was also club president at Easts. In 1961 he was the commentator for the first Australian rugby league match ever broadcast live. His typical sign-off call in the media was always "Easts To Win!". Ray Stehr died on 2 June 1983 aged 70.

Accolades

Stehr was named in Eastern Suburbs greatest ever team – an honorary team. . In February 2008, Stehr was named in the 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.

References

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

External links

Ray Stehr at ''Sydney Roosters 100 Years''

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stehr, Ray 1913 births 1983 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian military personnel of World War II Australian people of German descent Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league commentators Australian rugby league journalists Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league props Sydney Roosters coaches Sydney Roosters players Sydney Roosters captains People educated at Randwick Boys High School 20th-century Australian sportsmen