Jim Devereaux

Jimmy Devereux

Personal information
Full name	James Devereux
Nickname	"Muscles"
Born	1885 Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia
Died	1936 England
Playing information
Rugby union
Position	?
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P  ?
Rugby league
Position	Centre
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1908 North Sydney 6 4 0 0 12 1909–10 Hull F.C. 21 1910 North Sydney 2 1 0 0 3 1913–21 Hull F.C. 181 101 5 Total 189 127 5 0 15 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1907 New South Wales 2 0 0 0 0 1908–09 Australia 5 3 1 0 11
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1924–25 North Sydney 20 9 1 10 45

James Devereux (1885–1936?) was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer of the earlier 20th century. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative three-quarter back, he played in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from its first season in 1908 for the North Sydney club, before playing several seasons in England will Hull F.C.. He later returned to Australia and coached North Sydney.

The son of Irish immigrant parents, James Devereux and Ellen Shanahon, Devereux played for the first ever New South Wales rugby league team in their début match against New Zealand, and later in was selected to play in the first ever trans-Tasman test, which was début match of the Australia national rugby league team against New Zealand on the return leg of their tour of Britain. Devereaux is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 4. He went on to play in all three matches.

Devereaux was a member of the Australian side selected for the first ever Kangaroo tour and was the first Australian to score a try in rugby league against Great Britain when he got a hat-trick in the first ever Test between the nations. After the tour he stayed in England and played for Hull F.C., and became the first player to score 100 tries for the club. He was awarded Life Membership of the New South Wales Rugby League in 1914.