Personalities In Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 731, 2 August 1929, Page 14

Personalities In Sport

Harry Sunderland — Live-Wire Manager of Australian League Team

AREALLY lovable chap with unlimited energy, unquenchable enthusiasm, personality and initiative, and one who is an orator in every sense of the word —that is Harry Sunderland, the joint manager of the Australian League combination which passed through here this week en route for England where it is bound to tussle for the Rugby League “ashes” of the world. Rut Harry is no stranger to Aucklanders, for this man with a smile as broad as the Pacific was here in’’23 managing the Queensland Leaguers.

THiring his visit here in 1925. Harry I became the big personality in the sporting world, but it was not all those I lino personal qualities of his alone that j did that. The All Blacks (Rugby) had just arrived home from Kngland with ari unbeaten record. Maorilanders, of course, were jubilant over this grand performance at the Lime, and for the while the League gamo was forced to the background. This rather cramped Harry's style, so he came out and j issued a challenge for his band of Queenslanders to meet the Rugby L'nion All Blacks. It caused a great

stir at the time. However, the stir seemed to be the main thing that Harry wanted, for the League game soon

came into its own again. But. even to this day, Harry maintains that the game should have taken i»laee. He says that it was not a matter as to which side would win, but that it would pave the way to conditions which must, eventually come. “But I think that the Queensland Leaguers would have beaten the All Blacks all the same,’* said Harry. * Then wo are branded as professionals. Well, if that is so, surely we can stand comparison with English cricket in which professional and amateur players mix without a murmur,’* concluded Harry, who 'would have liked to have given a very lengthy statement, had he had the chance. But to switch off anything that is likely to start another controversy, the writer found out (not from Harry, by the way) that he was born at Gympie and was very young, a baby in fact, when he left there for Toowoomba. With that push which has characterised all! that he has ever done, he decided that the metropolis offered more opportunties anti at the age of 10 years went to Brisbane and began his career in newspaper work. That accounts for his knowledge of publicity. It was not long before this young man did things which made people realise his worth as a publicity man, and his secretarial, organising and journalistic services were sought by numerous organisations. He saw the possibilities in the Rugby League game and was one of those who set to work to establish it in that State. The job was not an easy one in those days, for Rugby Union was the chief code. At tlrst, the League game attracted very few spectators. That did not worry Harry. lie was confident of success and in 1913 he agreed to act as secretary. Sine© then, he continued to make progress and the code with him, until 1 it became the most popular in the State,. More than that, the standard of play became so high in recent years that Queensland was superior to allcomers, and Australia, was unable to win a; test until the side was chosen in ; 1 924, in which ten of the thirteen players were Queenslanders. The writer* has it from a most reliable source that only three years had elapsed from the time when Harry launched the League game in Brisbane when it ousted the strongly entrenched Union code. He was appointed special correspondent for the Sydney “Sun" with the 1922 trippers to England, where he did so well that cu his return the “Bun'’ appointed him its circulation manager in the ill-fated Melbourne venture. Even Harry could nut. breathe life into that! Back again in Brisbane, Harry grabbed the League reins, and still holds thenu He has managed many teams, and for bis untiring efforts in fostering the game League in Australia owes him much. Those who know him well are not surprised at the results ho has achieved. He is temperamentally fitted for success. He tackles a job in such a way that failure is al-

most impossible. \\ hen the League Avas faced Avith a serious ground difficulty in 1919, it Avas Harry who rose to tho occasion, and soon established an emergency playing-field. One reason why ho has been a winner, and made the code generally a Avinner, too, is his courage in spending money. Very Avisely, he realised that “tight" administration rarely got a game very far. As joint manager of the Australian Leaguers, some may doubt his knowledge of football tactics and judgment of players. But Duncan Thomspon settled this query when he said:—“lt may be interesting to the casual reader to know that 15 years ago Harry first taught me to think. He showed me my first move on the football field. His critical eye watched me throughout my career, and corrected my many failings and shortcomings. Even now, valuable information is gleaned from discussions with him, and in his judgment I have the greatest confidence." On this present tour it is evident that Harry is the big noise and chief spokesman. And Avho is more capable to meet the Prince of Wales, discourse Avith the Prime Minister and Lord Mayors, and interview the Press of England, than Harry Sunderland, who. ouly last Monday evening, gave a small band of Aucklanders a taste of his ability Avhen the Australians Avere entertained by the council of the New Zealand League? But it is really Harry’s pleasing palaver which is the feature of his getup. and it would not be surprising if, during his journey across America, he split the “Yanks” in tAvain on any question from prohibition to restricted immigration. And tlius is a brief “something" on Harry Sunderland, aaMio has risen from a copy boy on a Barling UoAvns paper right up to higher rungs of the ladder, and Avho is now managing one of the finest League Rugby combinations which ever left Australia’s shores. He is a rare combination, idealist and organiser. Of such stuff are the “great captains" made.