Vic Hey

Personal information
Full name	Victor Hey
Date of birth	1912
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Nickname(s)	The Human Bullet
Youth clubs
Years	Club
	Fairfield United, Guildford
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1933–1935 1936 1937 1937–1944 1944–1947 1947 1948–1949	Western Suburbs Toowoomba Ipswich Leeds Dewsbury Hunslet Parramatta	26 (56) ? 145 (219) ? ? 10 (9)
Representative teams
1933–1935 1936 1933–36	New South Wales Queensland Australia	11 (27) 4(0) 6 (6)
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Vic Hey (1912–1995) born Liverpool, New South Wales, was an Australian rugby league national and state representative five-eighth and later a successful first-grade and national coach. Liverpool is a Suburb in south-western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. History See also History of rugby league The grass roots of rugby league can be traced to early football history, through the playing of ball games A typical Rugby league team consists of thirteen players on the field plus four substitutes on the bench His Australian club playing career commenced with the Western Suburbs Magpies and concluded with the Parramatta Eels. The Western Suburbs Magpies are a Rugby league football club in Sydney Australia The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional Rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. In between he played for a number of clubs in the English first division.

Club career

Western Suburbs

After starring as a schoolboy and playing his junior football with Guildford in western Sydney, Vic Hey was graded with the Western Suburbs Magpies in 1933. The Western Suburbs Magpies are a Rugby league football club in Sydney Australia In a spectacular rookie season he cemented a first grade club spot and made both his state and national representative debuts. In his second NSWRL season 1934, Hey was a member of Wests' premiership winning side. 1934 's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-sixth season of the Rugby league competition based in Sydney New South Wales.

Toowoomba

Moving to Queensland in 1936, Vic Hey briefly played a season for Toowoomba before moving to the UK.

Leeds

At the end of the Australian 1936 season Hey left for Britain to play club football for Leeds, making his debut against Hunslet on 21 August 1937. Leeds Rhinos, or informally Leeds or Rhinos, are an English professional Rugby league football club based in Leeds He was paid a then record signing fee of £1,400. He appeared in the Championship final in 1938 when Leeds went down to Hunslet. Later success followed when he helped Leeds to successive Challenge Cup wins in 1941 and 1942.

Dewsbury & Hunslet

Hey was player/coach at Dewsbury from 1944-47, before playing nine times for Hunslet after his ship back to Australia was delayed. Dewsbury Rams RLFC are a Rugby league team based in the West Yorkshire town of Dewsbury. Hunslet Hawks are a British Rugby league club They are based in Hunslet, to the south of Leeds, West Yorkshire.

Parramatta

Vic Hey signed for Parramatta in 1948 in that club's second season in the top grade. He was appointed as the club's captain-coach. He played two seasons 1948 and 1949 before retiring from first grade rugby league at age 37.

Representative career

Represented both Queensland & New South Wales

New South Wales

After just 6 first grade appearances with Western Suburbs in 1933, Hey was called up to represent New South Wales. The New South Wales Rugby League team represents the state of New South Wales annually in the Rugby League State of Origin competition against arch-rivals Queensland He made a total of 11 appearances for New South Wales between 1933 and 1935, scoring nine tries.

Queensland

While living in Toowoomba and playing for Ipswich in 1936 Hey represented Queensland in all three matches of that year's interstate representative series. The Queensland State of Origin team is a Rugby league team representing the state of Queensland that plays in Australia's annual three-match State of Origin

Australian representative rugby league player

Australia

In his debut 1933-34 season, Hey was a late selection for the Kangaroo tour replacing Ernie Norman who had failed a fitness test. Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian Rugby league tours of Great Britain and France Ernie Norman (1913-1993 was an Australian Rugby league player - a state and national representative Centre or Five-eighth. On that tour he played in 23 tour matches and in all three Test matches of the Ashes series against England, partnering his Western Suburbs teammate Les Mead in the halves. The Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of Rugby league test series between Great Britain and Australia. On the tour he scored fourteen tries. In 1936, from Queensland he was again selected for all three Test matches of the domestic Ashes series against England. The Ashes is the name given to the trophy awarded to the winner of Rugby league test series between Great Britain and Australia.

Coaching career

Vic Hey coached Parramatta between 1948 and 1953. He went on to coach Canterbury in 1955 and 1956 and later Western Suburbs in 1958 and 1959. The Bulldogs Rugby League Football Club (formerly Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and "The Berries") are an Australian professional Rugby league He was appointed coach of the Australia national rugby league teamin 1950 and coached his country to their first Ashes victory in thirty years. The following year the French national side defeated Australia in a three Test domestic series. Hey also coached Australia in the 1954 Ashes series which Australia again won. The following year his side lost again to the French and afterwards he decided to resign as the coach of Australia.

Accolades

For his achievements in rugby league, Vic Hey was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2004. The Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame honors players who have shown exceptional skill at Rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors

In February 2008, Hey was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In late 2007 the Australian Rugby League and National Rugby League commissioned 130 experts to select the 100 best rugby league players in the game's 100-year history in The Australian Rugby League (ARL is the governing body for the Sport of Rugby league in Australia ^[1]

Footnotes

References

• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney