William Cann (rugby league)

Billy Cann

Personal information
Full name	William Askew Cann
Born	1882 Sydney, New South Wales
Died	7 June 1958 Manly, New South Wales
Playing information
Position	Lock
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1908–16 South Sydney 71 33 0 0 107 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1908–12 New South Wales 6 42 1908–14 Australia 8 1 1 0 5 1910 Australasia 1 0 0 0 0
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero

Wiliam A. "Billy" Cann (1882–1958) was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1900s who later wrote for The Sydney Morning Herald. A New South Wales state and Australia national representative lock forward, he has been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. Cann played his club football for South Sydney with whom he won the 1914 NSWRFL Premiership. In 1907 he played for New South Wales in the very first rugby 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. Cann was also a long-term administrator at Souths and a football journalist.

Cann, a contemporary of Dally Messenger and Albert Rosenfeld, began his playing career as a Rugby union three-quarter at Souths. Frustrated at being ignored by rugby union selectors, he joined the rebel New South Wales rugby league team which played the New Zealand All Golds in 1907. Cann joined South Sydney Rabbitohs in 1908. Cann was also selected to play for New South Wales in their first ever rugby league game against Queensland, scoring a try in the 43-0 victory, which was the first in a clean sweep of all three of the 1908 interstate series' games. Butler was then selected to tour England with the Kangaroos in the 1908-09 so was unable to play in Souths' first premiership win in 1908. Cann is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 20. Cann was a member of the premiership-winning Souths teams of 1909.