Pat Tunney: Irish immigrant who played Rugby for England

Pat Tunney was a member of the England team which played in the first-ever International Rugby League game against an Other Nationalities selection at Central Park, Wigan on April 5, 1904, at the age of 32, a remarkable achievement for a person born in the West of Ireland (see note one).

Pat Tunney was born on February 1, 1872, in Culduff, a sub-division of the townland of Cuildoo, in the parish of Killasser, County Mayo, Ireland, a son of Patrick senior and Margaret, née Higgins. With poverty rife after the Great Irish Famine 1845-1852, the Tunney family emigrated to Durham, in the north-east of England, in 1876, where Patrick had previously worked as a migratory labourer. They settled in the village of Low Burnhall, south of Durham, where Patrick worked as a labourer before becoming a coal miner in the village of Croxdale. Pat junior began his working life as a miner with his father, and the family started to make a comfortable living. They were recorded at Croxdale in the 1881 census.

Pat started playing rugby with a local junior team and earned a place with Durham Football Club in 1892, a club that included players from all social classes. In 1894, Pat transferred to Tudhoe Football Club, where his career blossomed. He played for the Durham county team on five occasions. During his time with Tudhoe, there was growing unrest in rugby circles with demand for payment by some players and those that supported the game’s amateur ethos. The demand for pay was very strong in the north of England, where there were more players from a working class background. In particular, they sought ‘broken time payments’ to cover income lost while playing rugby on Saturdays.

Salford Football Club near Manchester joined the newly formed Northern Rugby Football Union, which allowed ‘broken time payments’, and Pat moved there on October 30, 1897, at the age of 25. There, Pat had a successful career with one of the strongest clubs in the Northern Union. They appeared in the cup final in 1900, losing narrowly to Swinton, and in 1903 lost to Halifax in the decider before a crowd of 32,507 at Headingly in Yorkshire. Pat became one of Salford’s great players and in 1899 was selected on the Lancashire county representative side. He lined up for Lancashire on 18 occasions over a five-year period. Pat enjoyed a long and distinguished career with Salford, where he played as a forward (before specialised roles were introduced), but his greatest achievement was selection for the England team to play in the first-ever International Rugby League match in 1904, when they lost by 3 to 9 points. It was an outstanding achievement for an Irish immigrant with limited occupational opportunities during that era. Pat played 220 games for Salford before retiring in 1905 and returning to Croxdale. During his time at Salford, it is said that he had a trial with Manchester United, an indication of his skills, versatility and fitness. It is also said that his family could have a relationship to Gene Tunney, the former world heavyweight boxing champion from 1926 to 1928, whose father and mother were both born in County Mayo.

Pat Tunney married Annie Conley on August 29, 1906, and they had four children. He returned to the mine and worked there until his retirement in 1936, following the closure of the Tudhoe Colliery. Pat Tunney passed away on November28, 1949, at the age of 77, and is buried at Croxdale in County Durham. His rugby achievements deserve to be remembered on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Note 1: The English team was: W. B. Little (Halifax), F. Spottiswoode (Oldham), G Dickenson (Warrington), J. Lomas (Salford),

J. Fish (Warrington),( try), J. Baxter (Rochdale H), J. Morley (Halifax), A. Starks (Hull K. R) captain, P Tunney (Salford),

J Riley (Halifax), J. W. Bulmer (Halifax), J. Ferguson (Oldham).

Other Nationalities: D Smith (Salford), T. D. Llewellyn (Leeds), D. Harris (Wigan) (try), D. J. Lewis (Oldham),

D. Thomas (Salford), (try), E. Davies (Wigan), P. J. Brady (Huddersfield), J. Rhapps (Salford), J. G. Moffatt (Leeds),

G. Frater (Oldham), captain, D. Tomas (Oldham ),(try), H. Buckler (Salford).

Referee: J. H. Smith.

Match played with 12 players on each team.

Note 2: Sincere thanks to John Miles Hamilton, Nottingham, a grandson of Pat Tunney, for providing the above information.

Exploring Mayo by Bernard O’Hara is now available Worldwide as an eBook for the amazon Kindle application.

The print version of Bernard O’Hara’s book Exploring Mayo can be obtained by contacting www.mayobooks.ie.

www.mayobooks.ie also sell the print versions of Killasser - Heritage of a Mayo Parish , Anseo and Davitt.

Bernard O'Hara's book entitled Killasser: Heritage of a Mayo Parish is now on sale in the USA and UK as a paperback book at amazon.com, amazon.co.uk or Barnes and Noble

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An earlier publication, a concise biography of Michael Davitt, entitled Davitt by Bernard O’Hara published in 2006 by Mayo County Council , is now available as Davitt: Irish Patriot and Father of the Land League by Bernard O’Hara, which was published in the USA by Tudor Gate Press (www.tudorgatepress.com) and is available from amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. It can be obtained as an eBook from the Apple iBookstore (for reading on iPad and iPhone), from Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (Kindle & Kindle Fire) and from Barnesandnoble.com (Nook tablet and eReader).