Tom Richards: Olympic footballer and war hero

The first Test series between the two sides was in 2001, when the Wallabies won two of the three matches, and the second series was in 2013, when the Lions turned the tables and won the series 2-1.

The trophy for which the teams compete honours Tom Richards – the only Australian-born rugby player to play for both the Wallabies and the Lions and a man with more than a passing connection with Manly.

In 2001 the amazing career of this famous sportsman, who was also an adventurer and war hero, was told by sports journalist Greg Growden in Gold, Mud ‘n’ Guts: The Incredible Tom Richards, which was published by ABC Books.

Born near Tenterfield in 1882, Tom Richards was the son of a six-day-a-week miner and full-time Bible-basher who nearly robbed Australia of one of its finest rugby players because he didn’t want his son playing sport on the Sabbath.

The year after Tom’s birth his father moved to Charters Towers in search of work and the family followed soon after.

Tom left school when he was 15 and started working for a blacksmith before following his father and older brother Bill down the mines.

In 1897 the NSW rugby team visited Charters Towers as part of its tour of Queensland and Tom later wrote that the visit “sowed the seeds of rugby in my heart’”.

A few years later Tom’s father went to South Africa in search of work, freeing the Richards brothers to play the sport they both loved.

In 1903 Bill Richards was selected to play for Queensland and later played five Tests for Australia, while Tom honed his skills with the Charters Towers side.

In 1905 the family followed their father to South Africa where Tom played with a provincial side. Tom then travelled to England, where he played for several county sides and even played with one county team against a visiting South African side.

In 1907 he returned to Australia in the hope of breaking into the Australian team for its 1908 tour of England. Tom was selected to play for Queensland and played well enough to be chosen in the Australian team as a breakaway.

As it happened the 1908 Olympic Games were being staged at the same time in England.

Rugby union was played at the 1900 Olympics, when only three teams competed France, England and Germany but was not included in the 1904 Olympics.

At the 1908 Olympics only two teams competed Australia and England.

Tom scored a try and Australia won the gold medal.

On way back to Australia, Tom briefly visited to South Africa to see his family. The English rugby team was touring South Africa and, finding themselves a man short, asked Tom to play in two Tests against South Africa, making him the only Australian-born player to ever play at Test match level for both England and Australia.

Tom returned to Australia in 1911 and began living in Manly, marking the beginning of a long association with the area and an active involvement with the Manly Life Saving Club and the Manly Rugby Union Club.

Although Tom only managed to play three games for Manly in 1911 because of his work commitments, he played more games in 1912 and so impressed the selectors during Manly’s last game of that season that he was selected for the Australian team to tour North America.

At the end of the tour Tom did not return to Australia but went to England to play for one of the county sides on a tour of Europe before heading off on a walking tour of France, Spain, Italy and Switzerland.

At the outbreak of World War I Tom was managing a Manly rugby club side that was touring NSW but he immediately enlisted. Tom wanted to be in a fighting unit but ended up in the 1st Field Ambulance of the 1st Battalion. The Australian contingent sailed in October 1914 and landed in Egypt, where they underwent training for an as-yet unknown battlefield.

On April 23 Tom was promoted to lance-corporal and two days later landed at Gallipoli. In August he was evacuated from Gallipoli to Egypt because of damage to his spleen but returned to Gallipoli in November. Along with the rest of the Anzac force he was evacuated from Gallipoli in December and sent to France.

The Western Front was a different battlefield from the Dardanelles but the slaughter was the same and Tom and his colleagues were exposed to the same danger as the frontline troops.

But throughout his time in the field ambulance unit Tom always wanted to fight at the front.

In December 1916 his wish was finally granted he was recommended for commission and transferred to A Company in the 1st Battalion and thrown against the Hindenburg Line at Bullecourt.

In May 1917 Tom led a bombing party of 19 men and managed to push the German line back 250m and take hundreds of metres of enemy trenches.

Tom was wounded by shrapnel but so valorous was the action that one of Tom’s soldiers was awarded the Victoria Cross and Tom was awarded the Military Cross and promoted to lieutenant.

But on being removed from the front and sent to train while recuperating, Tom was wounded in both shoulders when a bomb exploded so he was sent to England for treatment.

But within hours of returning to the front in late 1917 Tom was again wounded and sent back to England.

Yet again Tom returned to the front but, like many, his health was badly affected by the gases used in some of enemies’ artillery shells.

Eventually Tom’s body gave way and he was again sent back to England for medical treatment where it was discovered that his lumbago, the damage to his shoulders and the cough from the gas rendered him unfit to ever fight again.

By February 1919, aged 37, Tom was back in Manly and in love with a local girl Lillian Sandow but the relationship and subsequent marriage was less than satisfactory for both and eventually the marriage collapsed.

Tom continued to write for Sydney newspapers and work as a travelling salesman, but his health was failing.

Tom Richards died on September 25, 1935, aged 53, and his ashes were interred in the grave of his brother Bill in Manly cemetery.

One of Australia’s most illustrious sportsmen was dead and Manly had lost a true hero.

Over the years the brothers’ grave fell into disrepair, so in 2013 former Wallaby Jim Boyce and Manly Marlins historian Sean Rout worked tirelessly to get it repaired.

The work was paid for by several benefactors.