Syd Malcolm (1902–1987) was an Australian

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, a state and

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representative half-back who captained the Wallabies' on seventeen occasions between 1928 and 1933.

Youth and representative debut

Malcolm left

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

in his teens to seek work and found it at

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is an urban centre within the City of Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River (Queensland), Bremer River, it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of the Brisbane central business district. Ipswich is ...

as a boilermaker. He played

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in 1925–26 with the St Paul's club in Ipswich, achieving representative honours for

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 1925. His first representative rugby union appearances were on the

1927–28 New South Wales rugby union tour of the British Isles, France and Canada Between July 1927 and March 1928 the New South Wales Waratahs, the top Australian representative rugby union side of the time, conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, France and Canada on which they played five Tests and twenty-six ...

for which Malcolm was one of three half-backs selected along with Wally Meagher and Jack Duncan from

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

. Meagher started as the preferred Test half and when Malcolm dislocated his shoulder in the match against

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not yet half-way into the tour it looked as though he would have disappointing memories of the trip. He was sidelined for many matches (ultimately only playing in 11 of the 31 official tour matches) but his capabilities had been noticed. After his shoulder recovery he was selected in the final three Tests against

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and

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. He finished the tour as Australia's number one half-back and returned to Newcastle a hero, but keen to relocate to Sydney to play club rugby there.

Playing style

Malcolm provided quick service from the scrum base with a fast but not particularly long pass. He was quick to spot and exploit an opening but was most respected for his courage and determination when the going got tough. The Howell reference describes him as "courage personified".Howell''Wallaby Test Captains'' p 97

Representative career

When the Waratahs toured

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in 1928 Malcolm was named as captain. The team was full of new blood with only Cyril Towers and Geoff Bland continuing on for the 1927 World Tour squad. Syd Malcolm played in seven of the ten matches; five in total were won and five lost. In 1929 the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

toured Australia,

Tom Lawton Thomas Anthony Lawton (born Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin, 1 November 1962) is a former Australian rugby union player. He played as a hooker. Career Lawton comes from a known rugby union family: his grandfather, Tom Lawton, Snr was an impo ...

took over as captain but Syd Malcolm was in the side that won all three Tests in an upset. With the

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of Rugby union in Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. History The QRU was founded in Brisbane in 1883 as t ...

now back in existence for the first time since 1919 this was the first truly national

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

side fielded since 1914 and the first time in history any nation had beaten the All Blacks in a 3–0 series whitewash.

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toured Australia in 1930 and Malcolm played in two tests and twice against them for New South Wales. Then in 1931 a full Australian side was sent to New Zealand. Syd Malcolm was the captain and part of the senior playing group with Cyril Towers and

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from the 1927 side. They won three, drew one and lost six matches including the single Test. In 1932 Malcolm again met the All Blacks in three Test appearances when they came to Australia – he was captain in one of those encounters but also captained New South Wales against them. In 1933, Malcolm was in the squad that made Australia's first ever rugby tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. He made eleven appearances including two Tests, one as captain. Syd Malcolm made his final international appearances against New Zealand in 1934, finishing his representative career after eight years and forty five internationals including eighteen Tests. Waratahs at twickenham 1928

References

Sources

* Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', HarperCollins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Syd 1902 births Australian rugby league players Queensland rugby league team players Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains 1987 deaths Australian boilermakers Rugby union players from Newcastle, New South Wales Rugby union halfbacks Manly RUFC players New South Wales rugby union team players Footballers who switched code Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen