Walter Messenger (9 July 1891 – 1 January 1961) was the youngest son of Charles A. Messenger and Annie (née Atkinson). He 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 who played in the 1910s and into the 1920s. He was a state and national representative er whose club career was played with Eastern Suburbs in the

New South Wales Rugby Football 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 ...

. The younger brother of league great

Dally Messenger Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger, (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was an Australian rugby league and rugby union player. One of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, he is recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in eit ...

, Wally Messenger won premierships with Easts in NSWRFL season 1912 and

NSWRFL season 1913 The 1913 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the sixth season of Sydney's top-level rugby league club competition, Australia's first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season. Season summary By the start of ...

, playing with his brother as captain. He made two Test appearances for Australia's National Rugby League team, ''The Kangaroos'' in the 1914 domestic

Ashes Ashes may refer to: * Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...

series, kicking three goals on debut and scoring a try in the deciding test of the series. He represented for

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 ...

in one match against

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 ...

also in 1914. For the 1915 season, he was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point-scorer. Wally Messenger is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No.93.

Early life

Wally Messenger, the youngest of the eight children of Charles Amos Messenger, was part of an "era of sporting achievement" of the Double Bay Public School. Both Wally and his older brother Dally (by seven years) were coached by an enthusiastic and dedicated teacher John Moclair, encouraged by principal Henry Giles Shaw (1891–1896). For many years they ensured that the Rugby team was undefeated in inter-schools competitions at Junior level. They quite often defeated teams from the Senior Schools competition as well, including a victory over the Fort Street High School, winners of the senior competition.

The Relationship between the brothers: Wally and Dally

In the course of history Wally Messenger's achievements have been somewhat eclipsed by the fame of his older brother Dally. Yet at the time of Wally's rugby league career Dally supported and lauded Wally's sporting development in every way he could. Dally encouraged his seven years younger brother Wally, when he played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

at the Double Bay School, and in a local Australian rules competition in 1906, when Wally was sixteen. ''The Arrow'' described Wally "as nimble and as clever as footballers are made". Wally then switched to Rugby League. On 18 May 1912 Wally entered first grade in an Eastern Suburbs match against South Sydney. The brothers played thereafter together at top level. Dally, normally the team's goal kicker, often shared the kicks with Wally. "He is not as unorthodox as his brother," said ''The Referee'', "but he has the power to field and kick the ball with infinitely greater skill than the average player". ''The Referee'' described Wally as having "infinitely greater skill than the average player. He is a strongly built tricky young man, and is very dangerous." Wally played two tests for Australia in 1914. Tragically,

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

(1914–1918) intervened and put a stop to his very promising football future. Dally is quoted as saying: "... given my opportunities, Wally would have been a world beater."

The Rorke’s Drift Rugby League Test Match of 1914

Wally Messenger was prominent in perhaps the most legendary game of Rugby League ever chronicled. It was described as

Rorke's Drift The Battle of Rorke's Drift, also known as the Defence of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defence of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal E ...

, an analogy to an outnumbered embattled group of British soldiers in Southern Africa who won a victory over a much larger and formidable army of Zulu warriors (1879). It was the third Test Match of Australia versus Great Britain, played in Sydney on the 4 July 1914. Great Britain, playing three men short owing to a string of injuries, nevertheless, by heroic and fiercely resolute play, won the Test, 14 points to 6. On the Australian side Wally Messenger scored one of their two tries.Gate, Robert, ''Rugby League, An Illustrated History'', George Weidenfeld and Nicolson Ltd, London SW4, 1989 pp. 48–49

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Messenger, Wally 1891 births 1961 deaths Australian people of English descent Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Sydney Sydney Roosters players 20th-century Australian sportsmen