Hello to all you rugby fans out there, my name is Les Herbert (top row third from left) & I have been asked by the Club to give you all a brief outline on how & when the Southern Suburbs Rugby Club was first formed over 60 years ago.

It was a Sunday night in August 1945, like most Sunday nights in those days a group of us lads used to gather at one and others place to play the old vinyl records & discuss the happenings of the past week & to plan things for the coming weeks.

This particular night in Doug Averay’s sleep out, Doug told us his brother was playing Rugby for the West Torrens Club & wanted to know if any of us were interested in playing Rugby.


Les Herbert, Bert Laker and Ron Duncan (1951)

One thing led to another & we decided to look into starting our own Club in Colonel Light Gardens. To cut a long story short, a meeting was arranged with members of the S.A. Rugby Union.

As I recall it was six or seven of us (Bert Laker, Doug Averay, Frank Muller, John Gibson, Lindo Walloschek, & yours truly) met with Sir Kenneth Milne, Jack Case, & Jim Carroll of the SARU in an old Church on Piccadilly Circus in Colonel Light Gardens, August 1945.

Halfway through the meeting there was a power failure throughout the Suburbs & all the lights in the room went out. Doug Averay said his Dad had a pressure lantern at home, so off he trundled on his bike & in a half an hour he was back & the meeting continued.


Max Williams (1952)

The “Pros& Cons” of starting a Rugby Club of our own were discussed. The SARU were willing to help us much as they could. In the weeks to follow we all pressed on to recruit as many of our mates & parents as we could to get the Club off the ground. During what was left of the Rugby season for that year a group of us went to Hindmarsh oval on a regular basis to learn how to play this game.

In the “Off” season we arranged to get Doug Starling a former player from NSW who had shifted to SA to live to be our Coach. We decided on what colors & design our jumpers would be & purchased a set of knitted wool jumpers.

The design was based on South Sydney Rabbitos & the name of the Club also inspired by South Sydney, (being a southern suburb of Sydney) we thought why not call ourselves Southern Suburbs (South Adelaide was already an Aussie rules Club).


Toby Peels, Max Williams and John Gibson (1952)

In 1946 we fielded our first team in the SARU competition. An area in the old Army Camp on Daws Road (opposite the Repatriation Hospital) was our first “home” ground. Mind you there wasn’t any turf on it, just weeds & bushes, which we cleared before we could play on it.

As years went by we eventually got a lease on Kingswood Oval complete with change sheds & hot showers & all. (Whacko) Regarding dates of the moves, they escape now, but from here on we had our good times as well as our share of bad ones. However my main purpose of this item is to give you an idea when & how this wonderful Club was started.

Many of the Historians of the Club will no doubt be able to fill you in on the progress through the years up to the present time. I would like to thank the Club for giving me the opportunity of being able to put pen to paper & give you some idea how & when this great Club formed.

My sincerest regards to you all,
Les Herbert
(One of the Founders of the Club)

Les and his son Russell at the club's 60th Anniversary Ball (2006)