The dawn of rugby league on the Downs
History of TRL beginning chronicled in new book
AS THE Toowoomba Rugby League celebrates its centenary season, a special publication has been released.
TRL chairman Brian Gilroy has put together five years of work to produce From Frogs Hollow to the Top of the World, a look back at the formation of rugby league in Toowoomba through to the side’s dominance of visiting teams in the 1920s.
The former history teacher has a passion for the past eras of rugby league and has used that to delve deep into the foundation of the sport in Toowoomba.
Bringing together snippets from various media outlets across the Downs and beyond, Gilroy pieces together the early history and beginnings of the TRL, and how Toowoomba came to be world beaters.
“I started researching into the early days of Toowoomba history from where we started from, and over five years I’ve written the book,” Gilroy said.
“It looks at some of the early incidents. We talk about 1919 being our beginning, but there was a competition in Toowoomba in 1913, played behind the Town Hall.
“Then World War 1 came along. After the war, everyone came back and things settled down, they decided they’d play rugby league and we’ve been here ever since.”
One of the opening chapters delves into the breakaway group of rugby union players that made the switch to help form the sport after being suspended.
“It started with a bit of a barney,” he said.
“There was a big stink in 1912 where six people were suspended, two got life bans.
“Their club, Rangers, said to their players that they could play rugby league. They had that option and they did, which was the start of the first part of the league in 1913.”
An initial pioneer out of the breakaway group was Sam Parker, who went on to blaze a trail interstate and at the representative level.
“Sam was one of the players who got a life sentence,” he said.
“He played in 1913 and he was the first player from Toowoomba to play for Queensland.
“He was also the first player from Toowoomba to sign with a Sydney club. He moved off in 1914 to play with Annandale before they departed.
“Sam is a bit of a mystery character. I couldn’t find much about him, but he was such a pioneer. No one ever knew about him until I started doing a bit of research.
“As a historian that was pretty exciting for me.”
The book wouldn’t be complete without an indepth look at the golden period of rugby league in Toowoomba.
From 1923-25, Toowoomba established itself as a rugby league powerhouse, taking a number of representative and national teams in its wake.
From Frogs Hollow to the Top of the World can be purchased at the TRL office at 10 Cress St, Toowoomba for $20.