Tom Kirk (1916–1994) was an Australian professional

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 who played in the 1930s and 1940s. A New South Wales state representative goal-kicking fullback, he played in

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 ...

NSWRFL 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 ...

for the Canterbury-Bankstown and Newtown clubs (with whom he won premierships) as well as 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 ...

. He was the first player to become the season's top point scorer on 5 occasions:

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 � ...

1944 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 2 – WWII: ** Free France, Free French General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny is appointed to command First Army (France), French Army B, part of the Sixt ...

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

. In 1947 he became the first player to score 1,000 career points in the NSWRFL.

Playing career

Former fullback of

Tumut Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...

Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tu ...

team, Kirk moved to Sydney and first tasted premiership success with Canterbury's 1938 Grand Final-winning team, landing four goals in the 19–6 win over Easts in the final. That year he also topped the competition's point-scorers list and the following year made his debut for NSW in the centres. 1943 Newtown premiers

Joining Newtown, Kirk became the first player to kick 100 goals in a season in

, including five in the 34–7 win over Norths in the premiership decider. He was the season's leading point scorer on five occasions, the last in 1946. He twice kicked a club record 11 goals during the 1944 NSWRFL season and set Newtown's club record for most points in a match with 25 (1 try and 11 goals) against St George, on 26 August 1944. In 1946 he overtook

Arthur Oxford Arthur Thomas Oxford (1894–1980) was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative whose club career was played with the Eastern Suburbs club and South Sydney from 1915 to 1929. Club career A noted point score ...

's record for the most points scored in an

career (864); Kirks's eventual total of 1,042 stood as the new career record for thirteen seasons until it was bettered by

Bernie Purcell Bernie Purcell (1928–2001) was an Australian rugby league premiership winning footballer and coach. He was a goal-kicking second-row forward of the 1950s for the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the Australian national representative and the New S ...

in 1959. In 1947, Kirk joined

for his last season in Sydney, and made a return to the New South Wales side in his final year in the Sydney competition. He finished his playing career at

Barmedman Barmedman is a rural village in the Bland Shire Council, Bland Shire in the New South Wales state of Australia, located approximately half-way between West Wyalong and Temora, New South Wales, Temora. Barmedman began as a service centre for gold- ...

, New South Wales in 1953. Kirk died in March 1994 aged 77.Tommy Kirk
at ''bulldogs.com.au''

References

External links

Newtown stats at rleague.com
1916 births 1994 deaths City New South Wales rugby league team players Newtown Jets players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players North Sydney Bears players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league fullbacks Australian rugby league players Rugby league players from New South Wales People from Tumut 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1910s-stub