Dally Messenger

Dally Messenger

Personal information
Full name	Herbert Henry Messenger
Nickname	"Dally" and "The Master"
Born	(1883-04-12)12 April 1883 Balmain, New South Wales
Died	24 November 1959(1959-11-24) (aged 76) Gunnedah, New South Wales
Playing information
Height	5 ft 7.5 in (171.5 cm)
Weight	12 st (76 kg)
Rugby union
Position	Wing, First five-eighth, Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1905–07 Eastern Suburbs 24 4 37 1 105 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1906–07 Sydney 3 0 4 0 11 1906–07 New South Wales 13 5 14 0 46 1907 Australia 2 1 2 0 7
Rugby league
Position	Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1908–13 Eastern Suburbs 48 21 159 0 381 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1907–12 New South Wales 26 21 120 0 308 1908 New Zealand 2 1 0 0 3 1908–10 Australia 9 5 23 0 59 1908 Queensland 1 1 3 0 9 1908–12 City NSW 6 5 29 0 73
Source:

Herbert Henry "Dally" Messenger (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. Messenger, or 'The Master' as he was dubbed, represented his country in two rugby union tests and seven rugby league tests. He played for New South Wales in the very first 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.

Messenger had a stocky build, and while standing only about 172 cm (5 ft 7') in height, he was a powerful runner of the ball and a solid defender. According to his peers the centre's greatest attributes were his unpredictability and astonishing physical co-ordination, coupled with a freakish ability to kick goals from almost any part of the ground. He was a teetotaller and non-smoker during his career and other than breakfast, Messenger would rarely eat before a match.

Messenger was born in the Sydney waterfront suburb of Balmain, New South Wales, and grew up in another of Sydney's waterfront suburbs, Double Bay, where his father owned a boat shed. He also spent some time living with an aunt in South Melbourne, Victoria, and he later recalled playing a game during this period which may have been "Victorian rules football".

In Sydney, Messenger attended Double Bay Public School in the city's eastern suburbs. It was here that he initially honed his rugby skills, while also playing cricket and indulging in his other great sporting love, sailing. Messenger worked, too, at his father's boat shed. By this juncture, he had gained the nickname of "Dally". It derived from a prominent politician of the 1880s, the then Attorney-General of New South Wales, William Bede Dalley, whose most conspicuous physical feature was a splendid pot belly — an anatomical augmentation that Herbert Henry Messenger happened to boast, too, when he was a small child. Fortunately, little Herbert Henry shed his pot belly as he grew older, together with the "e" from the spelling of his nickname.