INVERELL RSM Club will sponsor a game of rugby at Rugby Park on May 9, which will be a formal recognition of the sacrifices made by the men and women of Inverell and the North West in 1915 when they enlisted to fight in World War I.
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A formal recognition ceremony to those who gave up so much will take place prior to the 1st grade game against Barraba at 3.15pm.
Highlanders’ president Peter Davidson said the North Western Rugby Union at Inverell had contributed 132 volunteers.
“We thought it was very important as many other groups in the community are recognising the centenary of ANZAC for us to do the same, and take note of the contribution made by local rugby players at that time,” Davidson said.
“Inverell had a major contribution of players who ended up going to the Front.”
The North Western Rugby Football Union was formed at Inverell in May 1905.
In 1915 the local competition was abandoned because so many men had gone to the War, and could not restart until 1919.
On a national scale, the war had a devastated Rugby Union in Australia. By July 1918, a total of 3872 members of the NSW Rugby Union enlisted out of a membership of 4000, and although 382 were killed, a large number were also injured or crippled and so lost to the game.
Restarting the game in 1919 in New South Wales was difficult, but even more so in Victoria and Queensland, which did not regroup until 1926 and 1929 respectively.
Davidson said many of the names are still in our district and the club has asked any relatives of the men to contact either the RSM on 6722 3066 or Peter Davidson on 0428 151 664 if they would like to organise free entry to the ceremony and hopefully help put some collected information together.
A list of the names of those who enlisted can be found in Scoreboard. For more information contact Andrew Fuller on 6721 0336.
