Harry Bath

Harry Bath

Personal information
Full name	Alfred Henry Bath
Nickname	The Old Fox
Born	28 November 1924 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Died	4 October 2008(2008-10-04) (aged 83) Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Position	Second-row
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1940–45 Souths (Brisbane) 1946–47 Balmain 30 11 0 0 33 1948 Barrow 1948–56 Warrington 346 90 812 0 1804 1957–59 St. George 60 10 240 0 510 Total 436 111 1052 0 2347 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1945 Queensland 4 1 0 0 3 1946–47 New South Wales 4 3 0 0 9 1952 British Empire XIII 1949–55 Other Nationalities 10 1 20 43
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1961–66 Balmain 117 65 3 49 56 1969–72 Newtown 88 33 4 51 38 1977–81 St. George 110 65 4 41 59 Total 315 163 11 141 52 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1962–72 City Firsts 6 5 0 1 83 1962–72 New South Wales 13 10 1 2 77 1962–72 Australia 20 12 1 7 60
As of 10 January 2016 Source:

Harry Bath (28 November 1924 – 4 October 2008), born Alfred Henry Bath, was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach prominent and influential in the mid-20th century. A state and international representative who played 12 matches for Other Nationalities in the International Championship from 1949 to 1955, he played at Second-row forward and has been referred to as the best Australian rugby league player never to be picked for the Australian national team. Following his retirement, Bath coached in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership for two decades, also achieving selection as the Australian national team coach.

Bath, to be known late in his career as 'the Old Fox', was graded as a sixteen-year-old to play for the Brisbane club Southern Suburbs in 1940. After six years with the club, including selection to represent Queensland, he moved to Sydney to play for the Balmain club in New South Wales Rugby Football League season 1946. He had represented for Queensland in 1945 and for New South Wales Blues in 1946 after one Sydney season. In the 1946 fixture for NSW against the touring Great Britain side he badly injured his leg and so was unavailable for Australian Test selection a week later. Also in his first season for Balmain, Bath helped his side reach the Grand Final in which they defeated St. George 13–12. In 1947 he again won a premiership with the Balmain Tigers. He was also selected to play for Australia against a touring England side that year but injured his leg in a club match and was prevented from playing in any of the three tests. A year later he again helped Balmain reach their second Grand Final appearance and a 13–9 victory over the Canterbury-Bankstown club.