Peter Moir
Personal information
Born1882
Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia
Died10 June 1921 (aged 38–39)
Malabar, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Rugby union
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
19??–?? Bathurst
19??–1907 Glebe
Total 0 0 0 0 0
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1903 New South Wales 7
Rugby league
PositionForward
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1908–09 Glebe 10 3 1 0 11
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1907–08 New South Wales 4 3 0 0 9
1908 Australia 0 0 0 0 0

Peter Moir (1882-1921) was an Australian rugby footballer of the early 1900s who was a key figure in the foundation of rugby league in Australia.[1] He was one of Australia's first national representative players appearing in the inaugural professional series against New Zealand in 1907 and making the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. In 1907 he played for New South Wales in the very first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.

Union career and dissent

Moir played rugby for Bathurst and Glebe, gaining selection for the New South Wales rugby union team in 1903.[2]

At the time concerns were starting to be raised over rugby football and cricket administrations' treatment of their players, Moir was a frequent visitor to Australian international cricketer Victor Trumper's sporting goods store at Market Street, Sydney.[3] Moir and Trumper, along with Alec Burdon, J J Giltinan and Henry Hoyle attended one such meeting in 1907 to form a new governing body for rugby football in New South Wales and organise a team to host Albert Baskiville's similarly rebellious touring New Zealand rugby team.[4]

Professional career

When the Australian leg of the 1907–1908 New Zealand rugby tour of Australia and Great Britain commenced, Moir played for the first ever New South Wales rugby league team at second-row forward against the "All Golds".[5] Although played under rugby union rules, this match was professional (all players received £1) and was the first rugby match not sanctioned by the New South Wales Rugby Football Union and thus was essentially Australia's first rugby league match.

Moir (back row, 3rd from left) Pioneer Kangaroos 1908-09

The following year, the 1908 NSWRFL season, the first of the New South Wales Rugby Football League, commenced and Moir played for Glebe RLFC.[6] He made two state representative appearances for New South Wales against Queensland that year and at season's end he was selected to tour with the inaugural Kangaroos on the 1908-09 tour. He played in only four matches of the tour none of them Test matches.

Following the Kangaroo tour he retired and took on an administrative role with the Glebe club. He was only 39 years old when he died at the Coast Hospital, Malabar on the 10 June 1921 after contracting blood poisoning.[7][8]

Peter Moir was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914.[9]

References

Bibliography

Footnotes

  1. ↑ nswrl.com.au. "History". New South Wales Rugby League. NSWRL. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  2. ↑ drummoynerugby.com.au. "Honourboard - New South Wales representatives". Drummoyne District Rugby Football Club. Drummoyne DRFC. Archived from the original on 4 March 2015. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  3. ↑ Fagan, Sean. ""Nothing but a nine-day wonder": The founding of Rugby League – Australia's first professional football code" (PDF). Tom Brock Lecture. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  4. ↑ Mallet, Ashley. "Victor Trumper". Official Site. victortrumper.com.
  5. ↑ Shawn Dollin and Andrew Ferguson. "New South Wales Firsts vs. New Zealand". All Blacks Tour 1907/08. rugbyleagueproject.org. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
  6. ↑ "Player Profile - Peter Moir". Yesterday's Hero. SmartPack International Pty Ltd.
  7. ↑ Hudson, Glen, & Whiticker, Allan (2006). The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. Australia: Gary Allen Publishing. p348.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ↑ Sydney Morning Herald - Death Notice.(11 June 1921)
  9. ↑ Referee, Sydney-Life Members of the NSW Rugby League- 13 May 1914. (page 12)
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