Jim Devereux

Jimmy Devereux

Personal information
Full name	James Devereux
Nickname	"Muscles"[1]
Born	1885 Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia[1]
Died	1936[1] England[1]
Playing information
Rugby union
Position	?
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
	?
Rugby league
Position	Centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1908	North Sydney	6	4	0	0	12
1909–10	Hull FC		21
1910	North Sydney	2	1	0	0	3
1913–21	Hull FC	181	101	5
	Total	189	127	5	0	15
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1907	New South Wales	2	0	0	0	0
1908–09	Australia	5	3	1	0	11
Coaching information
Club
Years	Team	Gms	W	D	L	W%
1924–25	North Sydney	20	9	1	10	45

James "Jim" Devereux (1885–1936?) was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer of the earlier 20th century. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative three-quarter back, he played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from its first season in 1908 for the North Sydney club,^[2] before playing several seasons in England will Hull FC. He later returned to Australia and coached North Sydney.

Playing career

The son of Irish immigrant parents, James Devereux and Ellen Shanahon,^[3] Devereux played for the first ever New South Wales rugby league team in their debut match against New Zealand, and later in was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was debut match of the Australia national rugby league team against New Zealand on the return leg of their tour of Britain. Devereaux is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 4.^[4] He went on to play in all three matches.

Devereaux was a member of the Australian side selected for the first ever Kangaroo tour and was the first Australian to score a try in rugby league against Great Britain when he got a hat-trick in the first ever Test between the nations.^[1] After the tour he stayed in England and played for Hull FC. There he won the 1913-14 Challenge Cup and became the first player to score 100 tries for the club.^[5] He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914.^[6]

Devereux was in England during World War I and served in the military. In April 1916 he gained selection in an Australasian servicemen's rugby union side.^[7] After the war he resumed his playing career with Hull.

Post playing

Returning to Australia after the War, Devereux coached North Sydney in the 1924 NSWRFL season, and worked as a labourer on the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. On 3 December 1929 his leg was crushed in an industrial accident on the bridge, and was subsequently amputated at Royal North Shore Hospital.^[1] Devereux was unable to work thereafter, and came close to destitution. The North Sydney Leagues Club voted him a ₤50 donation in 1932 to assist with living costs.^[1]

It was said that Devereux died in England about 1936, although the date has never been confirmed. The Sydney Sun newspaper noted on 30 October 1941, that "Devereux had died about 4 years ago." Some argue that he died at sea. His wife, Daisy Elizabeth Deveruex née Heath, did not remarry and died at Leeds in 1956.^[1][8]

On 26 August 2006 the North Sydney club announced their team of the century, with Devereux named in the centres.

References

1. Masters, Roy (25 April 2014). "Enlisting Kangaroos were followed by NSW league players in their thousands". Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. p. 44.
2. Jim Devereux at yesterdayshero.com.au
3. Moore, Andrew (2000). "Jimmy Devereux's Yorkshire pudding: Reflections on the origins of rugby league in New South Wales and Queensland". 1st Annual Tom Brock Lecture. Australia: Tom Brock Bequest Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 January 2011. Retrieved 17 January 2011.
4. ARL Annual Report 2005, page 52
5. Hull's Australians at hullfc.com
6. Referee, Sydney. 13 May 1914.
7. Collins, Tony (2006). Rugby League in Twentieth Century Britain. England: Routledge. p. 15. ISBN 9780415396141.
8. Tom Brock Lecture: Andrew Moore

External links

• Jim Devereux at rugbyleagueproject.org
• Jim Devereux at stats.rleague.com