Eric Lewis was an Australian rugby league footballer of the 1930s. A New South Wales interstate

New South Wales rugby league team

The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

 and Australian international representative forward, he played club football in the NSWRFL for South Sydney

South Sydney Rabbitohs

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

, winning the 1932 Premiership with them.

Playing career

Lewis started playing for Waverley

Waverley, New South Wales

Waverley is an eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Waverley is located 7 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Waverley Council....

's Christian Brothers club before spending a season playing in Griffith

Griffith, New South Wales

Griffith is a city in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffith local government area. Like the Australian capital, Canberra and the nearby town of Leeton, Griffith was designed by Walter Burley Griffin. Griffith was named after Sir Arthur Griffith the...

 in 1931. He then returned to Sydney, and at the end of the 1932 NSWRFL season, Lewis' first in the top grade, he played in the premiership final for Souths, scoring a try in their 19-12 victory over Western Suburbs

Western Suburbs Magpies

The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...

.

Lewis played for Souths in the 1935 NSWRFL season's premiership final loss to Eastern Suburbs

Sydney Roosters

The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...

. After that he toured New Zealand with the Australian national team, becoming Kangaroo No. 200.

Lewis was a member of the 1937-38 Kangaroo touring side to England and France. The French leg of this tour helped establish rugby league in France

Rugby league in France

Rugby league has been played in France since 1934. As with rugby union, the heartland of the game is the south of the country.During the Second World War, in association with the French rugby union, the sport was banned by the Vichy government, an act which the sport has struggled to recover from...

.

Post-playing

Lewis coached Souths for the 1945 NSWRFL season.

In Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, Lewis spotted Jack Rayner

Jack Rayner

Jack Rayner was an Australian state and national representative rugby league player and NSWRFL coach. His club playing career was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 1946 to 1957 and he also represented New South Wales on eleven occasions and played in five Test matches for the Australian...

 playing inter-regiment rugby league on a muddy field at Port Moresby and invited him to trial with South Sydney

South Sydney Rabbitohs

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...

when he got home. Rayner went on to captain and coach Souths, becoming an important figure in the club's history.