Vic Hey

Personal information
Full name	Victor John Hey
Born	(1912-11-18)18 November 1912 Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia
Died	11 April 1995(1995-04-11) (aged 82)
Playing information
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	75 kg (11 st 11 lb)
Position	Five-eighth
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1929–35 Western Suburbs 27 18 1 0 56 1935–36 Toowoomba 1937 Ipswich 1937–44 Leeds 145 73 2 0 223 1944–47 Dewsbury 69 16 2 0 52 1947 Hunslet 9 4 0 0 12 1948–49 Parramatta 10 3 0 0 9 Total 260 114 5 0 352 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1933–35 New South Wales 12 9 0 0 27 1933–36 Australia 6 2 0 0 6 1936 Queensland 4 0 0 0 0 1937 British Empire 1 1 0 0 3
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1944–47 Dewsbury RLFC 0 0 0 0 1948–53 Parramatta 108 36 9 63 33 1955–56 Canterbury-Bankstown 36 10 0 26 28 1958–59 Western Suburbs 40 26 1 13 65 Total 184 72 10 102 39 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1950–55 Australia 16 8 0 8 50
Source:[1][2][3]
Relatives	Dave Hey (brother)

Victor John Hey (18 November 1912 inLiverpool, New South Wales – 11 April 1995), also known by thenickname of"The Human Bullet",^[4] was an Australianrugby league national and state representativefive-eighth and later a successful first-grade and national coach. His Australian club playing career commenced with theWestern Suburbs Magpies, and concluded with theParramatta Eels. In between he played for a number of clubs in the English first division. He is considered one of Australia's finest footballers of the 20th century^[5]

After starring as a schoolboy and playing his junior football with Guildford in western Sydney, Vic Hey was graded with theWestern Suburbs Magpies in 1933. In a spectacular rookie season he cemented a first grade club spot and made both his state and national representative débuts. Hey was a late selection for the1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain replacingErnie Norman who had failed a fitness test. On that tour he played in 23 tour matches and in all three Test matches of theAshes series against England, partnering his Western Suburbs teammate Les Mead in the halves. On the tour he scored fourteen tries. In his secondNSWRL season 1934, Hey was a member of Wests' premiership winning side. In September 2004 Hey was named at five-eighth in the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.

Moving to Queensland in 1936, Vic Hey briefly played a season for Toowoomba before moving to Ipswich. While living in Toowoomba and playing for Ipswich in 1936 Hey representedQueensland in all three matches of that year's interstate representative series. In 1936, from Queensland he was again selected for all three Test matches of the domesticAshes series against England. Despite formal protests from theQueensland Rugby League,^[6] he was paid 1,400 pounds sterling to sign on with English clubLeeds, at the time a higher amount than the rugby league world record transfer fee.^[7]

At the end of the Australian 1936 season Hey left for Britain to play club football forLeeds, making his début againstHunslet on Saturday 21 August 1937. He was paid a then record signing fee of £1,400 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £218,100 in 2013).^[8] Vic Hey playedstand-off inLeeds' 14–8 victory overHuddersfield in the1937–38 Yorkshire Cup Final during the1937–38 season atBelle Vue,Wakefield on Saturday 30 October 1937, and playedstand-off in the 2–8 defeat byHunslet in theChampionship Final during the1937–38 season atElland Road,Leeds on Saturday 30 April 1938, played atcentre in the 19–2 victory overHalifax in the1940–41 Challenge Cup Final during the1940–41 season atOdsal Stadium,Bradford, in front of a crowd of 28,500, and played atcentre in the 15–10 victory over Halifax in the1941–42 Challenge Cup Final during the1941–42 season atOdsal Stadium,Bradford, in front of a crowd of 15,250.^[9]

Hey played in the 1938 Christmas Eve fixture between Leeds and Salford atHeadingley Stadium. Headingley’s rugby pitch was frozen solid, but the cricket ground wasn’t so the goal posts were moved and 12,000 fans saw the Leeds win 5-0. Hey became the only player to score a try on Headingley’s cricket field.^[10]

Hey wasplayer-coach atDewsbury from 1944 to 1947, before playing nine times forHunslet after his ship back to Australia was delayed.

Vic Hey playedstand-off inDewsbury's 14-25 aggregate defeat byWigan in theChampionship Final during the1943–44 season; the 9-13 first-leg defeat atCentral Park,Wigan on Saturday 13 May 1944, and the 5-12 second-leg defeat atCrown Flatt,Dewsbury on Saturday 20 May 1944.^[11]

Vic Hey signed for Parramatta in 1948 in that club's second season in the top grade. He was appointed as the club's captain-coach. He played two seasons 1948 and 1949 before retiring from first grade rugby league at age 37.

Following his retirement, Hey wrote rugby league's first memoir:A Man's Game which was released in 1950.^[12]

Vic Hey coached Parramatta between 1948 and 1953. He went on to coachCanterbury in 1955 and 1956 and laterWestern Suburbs in 1958 and 1959. He was appointed coach of theAustralia national rugby league team in 1950 and coached his country to their first Ashes victory in thirty years. The following year theFrench national side embarked on itsfirst ever tour of Australasia, and defeated Hey's Australian team in a three Test domestic series. Hey also coached Australia in the1954 World Cup^[13] as well as the Ashes series which Australia again won. The following year his side lost again to the French and afterwards he decided to resign as the coach of Australia.

For his achievements in rugby league, Vic Hey was inducted into theAustralian Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2004.^[14] Also in 2004 he was named at five-eighth for theWestern Suburbs Magpies team of the century.^[15]

In February 2008, Hey was named in the list of Australia's100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by theNRL andARL tocelebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[16]

• Andrews, Malcolm (2006)The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006)The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006)The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

• Hey, VicA man's game, Excelsis Press, 1950
• Victor John Hey at theSport Australia Hall of Fame
• Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au at theWayback Machine (archived 1 February 2009)
• Profile at leedsrugby.dnsupdate.co.uk at theWayback Machine (archived 17 November 2008)

• 1912 births
• 1995 deaths
• Australia national rugby league team coaches
• Australia national rugby league team players
• Australian rugby league coaches
• Australian rugby league players
• British Empire rugby league team players
• Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches
• Dewsbury Rams coaches
• Dewsbury Rams players
• Hunslet F.C. (1883) players
• Leeds Rhinos players
• Australian expatriate rugby league players in England
• Parramatta Eels captains
• Parramatta Eels coaches
• Parramatta Eels players
• Rugby league players from Liverpool, New South Wales
• Rugby league five-eighths
• Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
• Western Suburbs Magpies coaches
• Western Suburbs Magpies players
• Queensland rugby league team players
• New South Wales rugby league team players
• 20th-century Australian sportsmen

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