Laurie Ward was a rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 player in the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n New South Wales Rugby League

New South Wales Rugby League

The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...

 (NSWRL) competition in the 1930s, a state

New South Wales Blues

The New South Wales cricket team are an Australian first class cricket team based in Sydney, New South Wales...

 and national representative full-back.

Originally from Goulburn, New South Wales

Goulburn, New South Wales

Goulburn is a provincial city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia in Goulburn Mulwaree Council Local Government Area. It is located south-west of Sydney on the Hume Highway and above sea-level. On Census night 2006, Goulburn had a population of 20,127 people...

, the fast and elusive back moved to Sydney in 1933, joined 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...

 and played 15 matches for the club. Ward was selected to play for New South Wales in 1933 before leaving Sydney for Maitland

Maitland, New South Wales

Maitland is a city in the Lower Hunter Valley of New South Wales, Australia and the seat of Maitland City Council, situated on the Hunter River approximately by road north of Sydney and north-west of Newcastle...

 where he played seasons 1934 & 1935. He was selected at full back for Country Firsts in the inaugural City v Country clash staged by CRL on May 26, 1934 and the following year was selected for the national side making his Test debut in 1935 on the tour of New Zealand

New Zealand national rugby league team

The New Zealand national rugby league team has represented New Zealand in rugby league football since intercontinental competition began for the sport in 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of that name...

 playing in all three Tests of the tour.

In 1937 captain-coached the North Sydney Bears

North Sydney Bears

The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. They currently compete in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 92 years of top-grade competition. The Bears are based on...

 and that season was selected for the 1937-38 Kangaroo tour

Kangaroo Tour

Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France. The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours took place every four years and involved a three-Test Ashes series against Great Britain and a number of tour matches...

 playing in all seven Tests of the tour - three against England and two against each of New Zealand and France.

Published sources

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