Reg Date
Personal information
Full name Reginald Date
Date of birth (1921-07-26)26 July 1921
Place of birth Wallsend, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death 11 August 1995(1995-08-11) (aged 74)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1930–1938 Plattsburg Public School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1938–1944 Wallsend 107 (166)
1945–1947 Canterbury Bankstown 39 (94)
1948–1954 Wallsend 93 (154[1])
Total 239 (414)
International career
1947 Australia 5 (8)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Reg Date (26 July 1921 – 11 August 1995) was an Australian soccer player who plied his trade after the Second World War. Date played for Wallsend Football Club and Canterbury-Bankstown. He represented Australia in five full international matches, captaining three times.[2][3][4]

Early life

Date was born in Wallsend to Nancy and John "Mick" Date. His father was a fisherman at Lemon Tree Passage, where Date lived until the age of eight, when he moved to live in Wallsend with his mother's parents.[5]

Club career

Date went to Plattsburg Public School in Wallsend, being a prolific goalscorer in their youth matches. He made his debut for Wallsend Football Club in 1938 as a 16-year-old. He joined Canterbury-Bankstown in the state league in 1945. Date continued to live in Wallsend, commuting by train every weekend. In 1948, Date returned to Wallsend.[6] In time he was coached by the great Alf Quill, Wallsend Football Club's legendary goalscorer of the inter-war years.[7][8]

At his peak Date was an incredible goal scorer for Canterbury-Bankstown in the New South Wales Division 1, earning state and international recognition and captaining Australia in three matches against South Africa in a five-game home series against that nation; Date scoring 8 goals.[9] (He scored another 3 in two warm-up matches for the 'B' side prior to the official tour. There was consternation when Date, for whatever reason, was not selected on international tours of New Zealand in 1948 and, most surprisingly, South Africa in 1950 but he did score in a representative match on the national side's return from the Cape for New South Wales against Australia on Saturday 2 September 1950 and did appear for the 'B' side in the famous 0–17 defeat to an English XI on 30 June 1951.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season, and competition. Only official games are included in this table.[10]
Club Season League State Premiership State League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Wallsend 1938 4800352+3+9+16
1939 211900000021+19
1940 212100101+3+23+24
1941 14+1500213219+18
1942 13+3913416724+50
1943 12+2312144+10+18+39
1944 224100473+5+29+53
Canterbury Bankstown 1945 14323226122042
1946 1229255132+2+21+49
1947 133300716102149
Wallsend 1948 9130038111322
1949 18292324352541
1950 18242430302628
1951 21382624362854
1952 8246547131941
1953 11165312542225
1954 810000000810
Total 206+4142433397839+53+346+578

International

National teamYearCompetitive Friendly Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Australia 1947 0 0 5 8 5 8
List of international goals scored by Reg Date
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 10 May 1947 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia  South Africa 1–0 1–2 Friendly [11]
2 24 May 1947 Brisbane Cricket Ground, Brisbane, Australia  South Africa 1–0 2–4 Friendly [12]
3 2–3
4 31 May 1947 Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney, Australia  South Africa 2–1 3–3 Friendly [13]
5 3–1
6 31 May 1947 Newcastle Sports Ground, Newcatle, Australia  South Africa 1–0 5–1 Friendly [14]
7 4–1
8 5–1

Legacy

In 2000, he was selected as a member of the Australian team of the century by respondents to an RSSSF vote, beating Frank Farina into second place for the number 10 shirt.[15]

Later life

Date worked for years running hotels in the Newcastle area. He became the publican of the Queens Arms Hotel in Maitland in 1947, moving to the Ocean View Hotel in Dudley the next year. In 1954, Date took over the Albion Hotel in Wickham, where he worked until his retirement in 1980.[4][16] In a 2012 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, his Australia teammate Joe Marston rated Date as the best Australian player that he had played with or against, adding, "Great player. Great bloke. But boy he could drink. The selectors, they never liked Reggie. He was too much of a larrikin. They couldn't handle him."[17]

Honours

Wallsend

  • NSW State League: 1938, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1951, 1953[18]
  • NSW State League Cup: 1942, 1944, 1950, 1952
  • NSW Robinson Cup: 1938, 1939
  • NSW Daniels Cup: 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1949, 1950, 1951,

Canterbury

  • NSW State League: 1945
  • NSW State League Cup: 1946
  • NSW Sydney Cup: 1946

Individual

  • NSW Top Scorer: 1942, 1945, 1946, 1947, 1951, 1952, 1953[19][20]

References

  1. ↑ Allen, Peter (2011). "Career Record – Fate plays a hand". Reg Date – The Don Bradman of Football. Mosman, New South Wales: Allen Media Services. p. 270. ISBN 9781875171095.
  2. ↑ Cockerill, Michael (27 December 1999). "A Date with destiny". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 39. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "Goal-scorer with heart of pure gold". The Sydney Morning Herald. 19 October 1995. p. 49. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  4. 1 2 Mosely, Philip (2019). "Date, Reginald Thomas (1921–1995)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  5. ↑ Allen, Peter (2011). "1921–1928 – Fate plays a hand". Reg Date – The Don Bradman of Football. Mosman, New South Wales: Allen Media Services. p. 41. ISBN 9781875171095.
  6. ↑ "DATE GETS CLEARANCE". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. IX, no. 22. New South Wales, Australia. 11 April 1948. p. 23. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ↑ "Soccer record claimed". The Sun. No. 13288. New South Wales, Australia. 10 September 1952. p. 35 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
  8. ↑ Davidson, John (2 April 2015). "The forgotten story of ... Reg Date, the Don Bradman of football in Australia". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  9. ↑ Howe, Andrew (12 October 2006). "The Australian National Men's Football Team: Caps and Captains" (PDF). Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via OzFootball.
  10. ↑ https://trove.nla.gov.au/
  11. ↑ "South African's 2-1 Victory In Soccer Test". The Sun. No. 11, 635. New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1947. p. 6 (FINAL FOOTBALL LASTRACE). Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ↑ "DATE'S SHOOT-LADDIES SHACKLED". Truth. No. 2461. Queensland, Australia. 25 May 1947. p. 9. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  13. ↑ "S.AFRICAN STAGE BRILLIANT RECOVERY FOR DRAW". Truth. No. 2462. Queensland, Australia. 1 June 1947. p. 12. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  14. ↑ "Australia Wins Soccer 5-1". The Sun. No. 11, 659. New South Wales, Australia. 7 June 1947. p. 7 (FINAL FOOTBALL LAST RACE). Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  15. ↑ Krüger, André. "Australia - Team of the Century". RSSSF.com. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  16. ↑ Cronshaw, Damon (26 July 2017). "How Reg Date played peacemaker at Wickham, when Malcolm Fraser met the Queen". Newcastle Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  17. ↑ Cockerill, Michael (5 April 2012). "Tough as old boots and now he's a living legend". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 May 2021.
  18. ↑ http://www.socceraust.co.uk/NSW/Champions/state.htm
  19. ↑ Jack Pollard's Soccer Records - Sid Grant. 1974. p. 116.
  20. ↑ Jack Pollard's Soccer Records - Sid Grant. 1974. p. 117.
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