Uni’s sporting history could have been vastly different

BY MICK ROBERTS

The hallowed rugby traditions of the University of Sydney could have been vastly different if a push to establish Australian Rules there in the late 1880s had been successful.
In a new book, University Sport 1852-2007: more than a club, authors Steve Georgakis and Geoffrey Sherington reveal how the Victorians made their first efforts at introducing Aussie Rules in Sydney.
Mr Georgakis, a program director of human movement and health education at the University’s Faculty of Education and Social Work, said rugby union was well and truly established as Sydney’s number one football code when an attempt to form an Aussie Rules team at the University, to play in a Sydney competition, was made in 1887.
‘It was doomed to failure almost immediately,’ Mr Georgakis said.
‘Rugby Union was the University’s sport and the powerful administration basically shafted any attempt from the beginning.
‘The University’s sporting history would have been hugely different if Australian Rules had gained a foot-hole back then,’ he said.
The influence of the University’s sporting clubs and associations went far beyond the playing fields, he says. “Having the oldest rugby football club and some of the oldest cricket, boating, tennis and athletic clubs, the University played a decisive, pioneering and previously undocumented role in the development of these and other sports in Australia.’
Any attempt to knock Rugby Union from its pedestal as the University’s number one sport was vigorously defended. It would be almost 50 years before another attempt was made.
‘Not many people would realize that the University had a rugby league team in Sydney’s first grade final in 1926,’ Mr Georgakis said.
‘The University of Sydney was beaten by South Sydney.’
In fact a first grade side played in the Sydney rugby league competition from 1920 to 1937.
‘The team was made up mainly of Catholic boys, but as soon as the side was formed they were repeatedly sabotaged,’ he said.
‘They were forbidden to play any of their home games at the University.’
Like the University’s ‘spicy’ 150 year sporting history, the publication of a book telling its story was also clouded in some controversy.
Mr Georgakis said originally only two books had been commissioned to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the University this year and neither had focused on sport.
Sport and competitions have been an intrinsic part of the University and students’ life from its earliest days, Mr Georgakis said.
‘Sport was overlooked so we lobbied to have a book published commemorating the sporting history of the University.’
A research grant, and four years of work later, the authors realized their dream with the launch of the 300 page book, featuring over 180,000 words and 100 photos.
A professor in the history of education, Sherington says the need to document the University’s unique sporting tradition is confirmed by its strong Olympic Game representation. Nine University athletes are already confirmed as Australian team members at the Beijing Olympics, and the number is likely to grow to 20. He said the tradition builds on the University’s first Olympian, Nigel Barker in Athens in 1906.
“From the ideals of amateurism and athleticism entrenched in the Victorian age, sport at the University has evolved to become professional and business-like. But at all stages the University of Sydney was making a key contribution to the development of sport within the wider Australian community,’ Mr Sherington said.
University Sport 1852-2007: more than a club is recommended reading for anyone involved in sport and education ‘ from sport administrators and coaches, to historians, researchers and policy-makers, according to publisher, Sydney University Press.
Spokesperson Susan Murray-Smith said the book will provide valuable understanding of the place and meaning of sport in the context of Australian universities.
The book was launched by University of Sydney vice chancellor Professor Gavin Brown earlier this month.