🐇 Arthur Hennessy | Rabbitohs Coach #2
Full Name: Arthur Stephen Hennessy
Born: 24/9/1876 at Surry Hills (Sydney), NSW
Died: 19/9/1959 at Maroubra (Sydney), NSW [aged 82]
Club Playing Career: South Sydney rugby union 1900-07 (premiers in 1905); South Sydney Rabbitohs 1908 and 1910-11 (premiers in 1908); Easts Sydney 1909
Representative Playing Career: NSW rugby union 1901 and 1904 (six games); Metropolis rugby union 1901 and 1903-04, Metropolis Firsts rugby union 1904; Metropolitan rugby union 1904; Australia 1908 (two Tests, seven tour games); NSW 1908-09 (five games); Kangaroos 1909
Club Coaching Career: South Sydney 1912-21 and 1946 (first grade only in 1918 and 1946 – premiers in 1918); Sydney University 1933
Representative Coaching Career: Wallabies 1909; NSW 1913; Australia 1929-30; Country Firsts and Seconds 1942-44; The Army Firsts and Seconds 1944
Awards and Accolades: Souths rugby union premiership winner 1905; Rabbitohs premiership winner 1908; Kangaroo Tour 1908-09; NSW Life Membership 1908
Hennessy is listed as number one on the Rabbitohs' Player and Captaincy Register, and he is also number one on the Australian Kangaroos and NSW Blues Player Register, after leading all three teams as captain in their very first games played. And how fitting it is that a man who is most responsible for the formation of this great club, and who is also known as ‘The Father of South Sydney’, to win the first ever premiership for the club as an official coach in 1918 and is number two on our chronological list.
He was playing first grade rugby union with South Sydney between 1900-07, playing 96 games and scoring five tries. He was also part of their premiership winning 1905 side, and in 1901 and 1904 he played six games for NSW in the fifteen man code. When the NSWRL was formed in late 1907 he was one of the first to join the new code, after being selected for NSW as captain in three games against New Zealand, which were all played under rugby union rules because nobody knew all the rules of the new code as the League rule book didn’t arrive in Australia until early 1908.
Hennessy strongly advocated the no kick principle, emphasizing the importance of ball possession to score tries, which became the mark of South Sydney's traditional football in the early days. He played five games of the 1908 season and then left with the Kangaroos, along with five other Rabbitohs, on their first tour of England. His selection was deemed controversial because of his age at 32, but he broke his jaw early on tour and his seven appearances did not include any Test matches. When he returned to Souths in 1909 he found it hard to make first grade at the club, and joined arch-rivals Easts for the rest of the year, who were struggling after many of their Kangaroo tourists decided to stay in England after their tour ended. But he returned home for the next two seasons, where he played another 20 games for the Rabbitohs.
He first coached the 1909 Wallabies who all defected to the new code and went on to play four games against the Kangaroos. Their fourth game initiated the famous forfeit by Balmain in the 1909 final. Hennessy had quickly absorbed the principles of the new code and became a sought-after coach. In 1911 he trained the Wyalong team, and as coach of NSW in 1913 on their tour of New Zealand he imposed a steak-only diet for lunch on match days. Between 1912-17 and 1919-21 he was the official coach of the Rabbitohs second grade teams, using his experience to develop and guide new players coming through the grades. In 1918 he became the second official coach of the Rabbitohs first grade side, winning the premiership at his first attempt. He came back to the Rabbitohs for his second stint in 1946, when the club was struggling badly after losing many players who went to fight in the war.
During the 1920s Hennessy was football and boxing coach at Waverley College. In 1929 he was appointed coach of the Australian Kangaroos on their tour of England, being the first and only non-playing coach until Clive Churchill’s appointment in 1959. He also coached Sydney University's first grade side in 1933, Country Firsts and Seconds in 1942-44, as well as The Army Firsts and Seconds in 1944, which were played as Patriotic matches to raise money for the war.
Hennessy was also a ‘crack masseur' and trained boxer Sid Godrey. His connection with racing allowed him to invest in the Maroubra Speedway and in mini-golf and partly owned the Amusu cinema. He was awarded Life Membership of the NSWRL in 1908, and died in 1959, aged 82.
