Billy Cann

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Billy Cann
Billy Cann 1911.jpg
Personal information
Full name William Askew Cann
Born 1882
Sydney, New South Wales
Died 7 June 1958
Manly, New South Wales
Playing information
Position Lock
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1908–16 South Sydney 71 33 0 0 107
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1908–12 New South Wales 6 42
1908–14 Australia 8 1 1 0 5
1910 Australasia 1 0 0 0 0
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero
Cann in 1955

Wiliam A. "Billy" Cann (1882–1958) was an Australian rugby league footballer for South Sydney and Australia. He primarily played at lock and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.[1] 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. Cann was also a long-term administrator at Souths and a football journalist. Billy Cann AustRL 1955.jpg

Playing career

Cann, a contemporary of Dally Messenger and Albert Rosenfeld, began his playing career as a Rugby union three-quarter at Souths. Frustrated at being ignored by rugby union selectors, he joined the rebel New South Wales rugby league team which played the New Zealand All Golds in 1907.

He joined South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1908 and played 9 seasons with the club. Billy Cann was unable to play in Souths' first premiership win in 1908 as he was on tour, but he was a member of the premiership winning teams of 1909 and 1914.

Representative career

Cann toured England with the Kangaroos in the 1908-09 and 1911–12 tours as well as two tours to New Zealand with the New South Wales team.

He also represented Australasia in 1910.

Billy Cann is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 20.[2]

Administrative career

Cann was a member of Souths' committee from 1908 as well as a delegate to the New South Wales Rugby Football League (NSWRFL). In 1921–1922, Cann was co-manager of the Kangaroo tour along with Souths' secretary, S. G. "George" Ball.

During the 1940s and 50s, Cann was a vice-president of the NSWRFL. He also wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald.[3]

Accolades

Cann is credited with shaping the role of the lock in the new code. John Quinlan (1911–1912 tour co-manager) said of Cann: "It was he who introduced the typical Australian style of fast forward play in which the backs and forwards combine so effectively and spectacularly. It is no reflection on his successors to say the original model remains the greatest gem."[4]

He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914.[5]

In February 2008, Cann 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.[6]

Cann (3rd row, 2nd from left) Pioneer Kangaroos 1908-09

References

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Sources

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External links

  1. ↑ Century's Top 100 Players
  2. ↑ ARL Annual Report 2005, page 52
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  5. ↑ Referee, Sydney. Life Members of the NSW Rugby League- 13 Mat 1914 (page 12)
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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