Tom Mather

Edward Rennix Larkin Tom Mather

This book is a biography of probably the greatest administrator Rugby League has seen. Edward Larkin affectionately known as Teddy rose from the humblest beginnings to become a sports administrator and politician. He took the Australian Rugby League in 1909 when there was a very real danger it would cease to exist and pulled it up by its boot straps. He was an energetic, forceful and farsighted man who succeeded in all he undertook. In a life of many firsts he: - was the first paid secretary of the NSWRL was the first hooker for the all Australian Rugby Union teamwas the first to organize the tour to Australia by England in 1910was the first to organize a flood lit game in 1910was the first Labor candidate to win a seat on the Sydney North Shore was the first legislator to enlist in August 1914was to lose his life on the first day of the ANZAC invasion. Many of the innovations he introduced are still with us to this day. After the debacle of the 'Rourke's Drift' test it was his skill that poured oil on troubled waters with the Northern Union. In a brief political career his impact was such that he was looked upon as a future Labor Premier. The book traces his life from his early years through to his sad demise in 1915 and covers both his sports administration and his political career. It also deals with the aftermath of his death and the lives of the two sons he left behind. The book is a vital record of just how vulnerable the sport was in those turbulent early years in Sydney and rugby enthusiasts would find it a 'must read'.