I first wrote about the old ARL Hall of Fame in 2011, when I wrote a blog post a week during the season. In that post, I looked at the American Football, Baseball, Ice Hockey, Basketball, Australian Rules, Cricket, and UK Rugby League Halls of Fame to see how they chose players, who selected the players, how they were selected, a selection for “veteran” players, Legend players, as well as non-players in the Hall and made my suggestions on what the ARL should do. Five years later, I would write another post about the Hall as there had been reports that a 9th player would be inducted as an immortal (those reports would amount to nothing). In the second post, I wrote about the history of the old ARL Hall of Fame, the 64 players placed in limbo, another crack on the questions from the first Hall post, and suggestions for possible inductees in each category. 2017, during a Q&A session with then NRL CEO Todd Greenberg on Twitter, I asked Todd about the Hall of Fame. Todd confirmed that the Hall of Fame would be back. In 2018, in a State of the Game post, I wrote about the relaunched NRL Hall of Fame, the in-limbo players; I wrote about possible additional candidates to join the Hall in addition to those I wrote about in 2016; I also suggested the NRL add female players. As far as I can tell, this is the only website with a player profile section for Hall of Fame Members for the NRL, NZRL, RFL, and WRL. I have also written about the inactivity of the Hall from 2020-23. I provide this background to help you understand that I am passionate about the Hall.
In 2023, the NRL added George Piggins and Ian Heads to the Hall, the first people added since 2019. The NRL inducted George and Ian in a special ceremony at the SCG as both were ill and may not live to see a future induction ceremony (Ian would pass away in March of this year). Last month, the NRL announced that the Hall would be relaunched with 11 male players, 6 female players, 2 coaches, 2 referees, 4 contributors, and the 14th immortal. The NRL also announced that the Hall Committee would induct 2 male players per year, 1 female per year, 2 coaches per four-year cycle, 2 referees per four-year cycle, 3 contributors (media/administration) per four-year cycle, and one immortal per four-year cycle. The group agreed that players must be retired at least three years instead of the previous five.
While I agree with most of these changes, I can’t agree with the five to three-year change. The Australia Cricket Hall, Baseball Hall, FIBA Hall, Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the RFL Hall require players to retire for five years. The Basketball Hall of Fame had a five-year retirement requirement before dropping to four years in 2015 and three years in 2017. The Hockey Hall has always been three years. The Australian Football requirement was three years until 2015 when the Commission changed it to five years to increase the prestige around the selection. A lot of the media in Australia seem to have a recency bias. If the NRL had not changed the retirement requirement from five to three years, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater would have been inducted this year. Cooper Cronk and Sam Burgess would have to wait until next year, Cameron Smith in 2026, and Greg Inglis and Benj Marshall would have to wait until 2027.
In case you didn’t read my old posts. The ARL Hall of Fame was formed in 2002 and inducted as part of its charter class the then six immortals (C Churchill, R Gasnier, B Fulton, J Raper, G Langlands, and W Lewis) Over the next five years, added thirty more players (D Messenger, D Brown, W Prigg, K Holman, A Beetson, M Meninga, F Burge, H Horder, V Hey, H Bath, N Provan, K Irvine, C McKivat, J Craig, D Thompson, B Carlson, B Bevan, R Coote, G Treweek, S Pearce, C Fraser, K Kearney, D Hall, P Sterling, T Gorman, A Holloway, J Pearce, K Barnes, M Cronin, and H Wells). Brian Bevan’s choice is interesting; since most of his career was played in England, his Australian career would not make him Hall-worthy.
In late 2007, the ARL & NRL commissioned 130 experts to help decide the 100 best players from 1908-2008. Thirty-six of those selected were already in the Hall of Fame, whilst the other sixty-four were not. The other sixty-four players were: (V Armbruster. J Beaton, C Blinkhorn, K Boustead, R Bull, J Busch, B Cann, B Clay, A Clues, B Clyde, T Courtney, J Craig, L Cubitt, L Daley, B Davies, D Dempsey, G Eadie, A Ettingshausen, V Farnsworth, B Fittler, D Frawley, P Gallagher, H Gilbert, E Grothe Sr, H Hallett, B Hambly, A Johns, L Johns, N Kelly, B Kenny, J King, T Lamb, A Langer, G Lazarus, D Lockyer [was active in 2008], E Lumsden, B McCarthy, F McMillan, M Madsen, Gene Miles, S Mortimer, B Muir, H Narvo, E Norman A Norval, J O’Neill, K O’Shea, W Pearce, R Price, T Raudonikis, S Roach, S Rogers, A Rosenfeld, J Sattler, B Smith, R Stehr, H Steinohrt, A Summons, V Thicknesse, K Thornett, I Walsh, S Walters, B Wearing, S Webcke, and E Weissel).
The ARL Hall sat dormant, with no new inductees and the 64 players in limbo. In 2012, the ARL Commission took control of the game. 2018, the NRL Hall was launched, and all of the Australian Rugby League’s 100 greatest players were inducted. Six more players were inducted (P Civoniceva, M Graham, C Lyons, S Menzies, R Stuart, and G Tallis). Mark Graham is an interesting one as it seems to be a complete 180 on the reasoning in inducting Bevan and Rosenfeld. In 2019, four players were inducted (D Buderus, S Jones, R Wiki, and C Young). The first administrator ( J. Giltinan) and the first two media members (P. Frilingos and R Warren) were also inducted. All three are in the contributor category.
The Immortals was started over a long lunch in 1981 between Rugby League Week Editor Ian Heads, NSW editor of Rugby League Week Peter Peters, John Fordham, and Brian McGuigan. John told Brian to get involved with the Rugby League to promote his wine. Over lunch, the group came up with the Immortals. A four-box set of Elliott’s 1977 vintage port was released with a biography of each player. The judges (Harry Bath, Frank Hyde, and Tom Goodman) decided to limit the players to ones they had all seen in action, ruling out all those who played in the “pre-war” era. The judges would spend a night in a hotel room and end up with four players (C Churchill, B Fulton, R Gasnier, and J Raper). Under today’s rules, Bob Fulton would not be inducted as he had only retired in 1979. 18 years later, Rugby League Week decided to add one more Immortal. They were unable to split them, so they added two (G Langlands, who just missed out in 81 and W Lewis). In 2003, the 7th Immortal was added (A Beetson). Nine years later, the NRL said the 8th Immortal (A Johns). In 2017, Rugby League Week was in the process of adding a 9th Immortal before the magazine was shut down. In 2018, the NRL took control of the Immortal concept. Under the NRL’s control, the Immortals must be an inductee in the Hall of Fame. In 2018, the NRL elevated “pre-war” players (F Burge, D Messenger, and D Brown ) to Immortal status for the first games in history. N Provan and M Meninga were also added. It has been reported that Cameron Smith is eligible to be an Immortal. For some reason, the NRL wants to rush Cameron Smith to Immortality. When Darren Lockyer retired in 2011, many media claimed he was the next Immortal. When Johnathan Thurston retired in 2018, he was the next immortal. Now it’s Cameron Smith. If Penrith win the Grand Final to four-peat, I’m sure the media will move on to Nathan Cleary. If John Fordham and Brian McGuigan met with the NSWRFL instead of Ian Heads and Peter Peters, or if Ian and Peter were involved in the NSWRFL, what would the Immortal concept look like? The NSWRFL would have told them to launch it in 1983 to celebrate 75 years of the Rugby League in Australia and added “pre-war” players from the beginning.
In 2011, the NRL moved into its current headquarters. The NRL Museum, which opened in 2012, was included in the building. The museum was run by Frank Puletua and NRL historian Terry Williams. The museum featured memorabilia from the game’s history, tributes to the team of the country and the Hall of Fame. In 2021, as part of cuts due to a “bloated head office which was “squandering millions of dollars”, Frank and Terry were let go, and the museum was closed. A Rugby League Museum page with this message exists on the NRL website: The NRL Museum will be closed until further notice. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. – NRL Museum Manager (whomever they may be).” Most other sporting codes in Australia don’t have halls/Museums. The AFL had a Hall of Fame, run by Hamish McLachlan, but it was forced to close after two months due to running out of capital and being in severe debt. The AFL Hall and the Australia Cricket Hall are now inside the Australian Sports Museum at the MCG. The St George Dragons have a Hall of Fame inside the league club. As part of the master plan to upgrade Leichhardt Oval, a museum of Inner West Rugby League will be built where the current Gate House is opposite the main entrance. GateHouse was formerly home to Wayne Pearce when his dad was the caretaker of Leichhardt Oval. I hope the NRL museum returns to either its current location or, preferably, somewhere else. I prefer Brichgrove or Glebe/Ultimo to honour the code’s NSW origins.
I don’t understand why the NRL has the Hall of Fame induction ceremony in the middle of the year. The NRL wants to own the year. The best time to host the induction ceremony is before pre-season. The nominees could be announced at the Dally M Awards and could be presented to the crowd before the Grand Final.
Below are some possible future Hall Of Fame members.
Administrators: Samuel “George” Ball, Sine Boland, Paul Broughton*, E.L. ‘Buck’ Buchanan, Bill Buckley*, Jim Comans, Micky J Dore, Alf Faulkner, John Fihelly, Hary “Jersey” Flegg*, Henry Hoyle, Frank Jonhson*, Edward “Ted” Larkin*, Ross Livermore*, Ron McAuliffe*, John McDoanld, Harold Matthews, Horrie Miller, John ‘Jack’ A. O’Connor, Sir Laurence Street, Harry Sunderland*, George W Watson, Victor Trumper
Female Players: Molly Cane, Nellie Doherty, Maggie Malone, Ruan Sims
Players: Greg Alexander*, Cecil Aynsley, Ferris Ashton, Gary Belcher, Sam Backo, Ed Collins, Mal Cochrane, Bill Colier, Mick Crocker, Jason Croker, Brian Davies, Peter Diamond*, Greg Dowling, Steve Ella, Brian Davies, Frank Fisher, John Ferguson, Denis Flannery*, Geoff Gerard, Ryan Girdler, John Gleeson, George Green, Paul Harragon*, Eric Harris, Nathan Hindmarsh Brett Kimmorley, Brent Kite, Paul Langmack, John Lang, Bob Linder*, Ron Lynch*, Hazem El Masri, Wally McArthur, Anthony Minichello, Ian Moir*, Des Morris, Mark Murray, Wally O’Connell, Michael O’Connor*, Norman Pope, Norman Potter, Luke Priddis, Steve Price, Scott Prince, Bernie Purcell, Rod Reddy*, Luke Ricketson, Dale Shearer, Eric Simms, Royce Simmons*, Ross Strudwick, Ignatius Tyquin, Greg Veiversk, Elwyn Walters*, Kevin Walters*, Jack “Bluey” Watkins*, Alex Watson, Reuben Wiki*,
Coaches: Chris Anderson, Bob Bax, Don Furner, Phil Gould, Arthur Hennessey, John Lang, Charlie Lynch, Des Morris, Jack Rayner, Norm Robinson, Frank Stanton, Warren Ryan, Tim Sheens, Brian Smith
Media: Claude Corbett*, EE Christiensen, Alan Clarkson, Tom Goodman, Laurie Kearney*, Gary Lester*, George Lovejoy*, Margie McDonald, Jacquelin Magnay, Roy Masters*, Rex Mossop*, John O’Gready*, Geoff Prenter*, Jack Reardon*, Debbie Spillane, Andrew Webster
Referees: Steve Clark, Barry Gomersall, Greg Hartley, Shane Hayne, Darcy Lawler, Tom McMahon, Greg MacCallum, Tim Mander, Mick Stone, Eddie Ward
* Shortlisted for induction in 2019
And Another Thing: I’ve seen a lot of people hoping Andrew Webster will not be lost to Rugby League after he reportedly took a voluntary redundancy from Nine Entertainment today. I assume Andrew will continue his SEN roles, though besides a return to News Limited, where else is there? Yes, I added Andrew’s name to the media section this afternoon.
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Till next time,
Cheese