Vic Hey

Vic Hey

Personal information
Full name	Victor John Hey
Born	Monday (1912-11-18)18 November 1912 Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Died	Tuesday 11 April 1995(1995-04-11) (aged 82)
Playing information
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	75 kg (11 st 11 lb)
Position	Five-eighth
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1929–35 Western Suburbs 26 18 1 0 56 1936 Toowoomba 1937 Ipswich 145 219 1937–44 Leeds 1944–47 Dewsbury 1947 Hunslet 10 9 1948–49 Parramatta 10 3 0 0 9 Total 191 21 1 0 293 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1933–35 New South Wales 12 9 0 0 27 1933–36 Australia 6 2 0 0 6 1936 Queensland 4 0 0 0 0 1937 British Empire 1 1 0 0 3
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1944–47 Dewsbury RLFC 0 0 0 0 1948–53 Parramatta 108 36 9 63 33 1955–56 Canterbury-Bankstown 36 10 0 26 28 1958–59 Western Suburbs 40 26 1 13 65 Total 184 72 10 102 39 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1950–55 Australia 16 8 0 8 50
Source: [1][2]

Victor John Hey (18 November 1912 in Liverpool, New South Wales – 11 April 1995), also known by the nickname of "The Human Bullet",^[3] was an Australian rugby league national and state representative five-eighth and later a successful first-grade and national coach. His Australian club playing career commenced with the Western Suburbs Magpies, and concluded with the Parramatta Eels. In between he played for a number of clubs in the English first division. He is considered one of Australia's finest footballers of the 20th century^[4]

Playing career

Sydney

After starring as a schoolboy and playing his junior football with Guildford in western Sydney, Vic Hey was graded with the

, Hey was a member of Wests' premiership winning side. In September 2004 Hey was named at five-eighth in the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.

Queensland

Moving to Queensland in 1936, Vic Hey briefly played a season for Toowoomba before moving to Ipswich. While living in Toowoomba and playing for Ipswich in 1936 Hey represented

England

At the end of the Australian 1936 season Hey left for Britain to play club football for

Hey was player-coach at Dewsbury from 1944 to 1947, before playing nine times for Hunslet after his ship back to Australia was delayed.

Vic Hey played

Return to Sydney

Vic Hey signed for Parramatta in 1948 in that club's second season in the top grade. He was appointed as the club's captain-coach. He played two seasons 1948 and 1949 before retiring from first grade rugby league at age 37.

Following his retirement, Hey wrote rugby league's first memoir: A Man's Game which was released in 1950.[10]

Coaching career

Vic Hey coached Parramatta between 1948 and 1953. He went on to coach

as well as the Ashes series which Australia again won. The following year his side lost again to the French and afterwards he decided to resign as the coach of Australia.

Accolades

For his achievements in rugby league, Vic Hey was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2004.^[12] Also in 2004 he was named at five-eighth for the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.^[13]

In February 2008, Hey was named in the list of Australia's

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[14]

Footnotes

References

• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

Further reading

• Hey, Vic A man's game, Excelsis Press, 1950
• Victor John Hey at the
  Sport Australia Hall of Fame
• Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au at the Wayback Machine (archived 1 February 2009)
• Profile at leedsrugby.dnsupdate.co.uk at the Wayback Machine (archived 17 November 2008)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Jack Walsh 1956–1957	Coach Western Suburbs 1958–1959	Succeeded by Dudley Beger 1960
Preceded by Vic Bulgin 1955	Coach Canterbury-Bankstown 1955–1956	Succeeded by Col Geelan 1957
Preceded by Clive Churchill 1952-1953	Coach Australia 1954–1955	Succeeded by Ken Kearney 1956-1957
Preceded by Keith Froome 1949	Coach Australia 1950–1951	Succeeded by Clive Churchill 1952-1953
Preceded by Frank McMillan 1947	Coach Parramatta 1948–1953	Succeeded by Charlie Gill 1954
Achievements
Preceded by Harold Buck	Rugby League Transfer Record Ipswich to Leeds 1937–1939	Succeeded by ??