ABOUT COLONIALRUGBY.com.au
Sean Fagan

"I launched ColonialRugby.com.au as means to share my research on the history of Australian rugby in the period before World War One and the arrival of rugby league (1907-10)."

"I found many RU fans were visiting my first site (RL1908.com) as there was an absence of any substantial Australian rugby history material on the web."

"While my primary interest has been in rugby league history, I am (admittedly) fascinated by this long-forgotten colonial era of our nation's sporting history."

"This may stem from my rugby union background, having taken up the game at a western Sydney high school in the late 1970s, and in the Sydney 2nd Division competition in the 1980s (with the now extinct Smithfield Warthogs)."

"They were fun days - not turning up to training did nothing to harm your chances of selection on the weekend, and if I turned up early enough on game day, I got to play two games as there were never enough players in the lower grades."

"At Smithfield we had the pleasure of visiting the home grounds of Sydney Uni, Easts, Norths, Mosman, Hornsby and all other points east of Concord. We also got flogged just about every week too."

"It was always good when some of these clubs visited us - they would bring their own time-keeper, bell-ringer and table, hyphenated surnames, and set up on the sideline. I appreciated nothing of union or league history at the time, but looking back, I am glad I got to play against some of those clubs, get flogged on North Sydney Oval (the surface was as hard as they all say!) and at the University."

"A visit to RL1908.com will reveal much of my previous work. Some of the rugby history material has been used by the Australian Rugby Union and the Rugby Football Union in educational programmes. I have also written articles covering colonial rugby for the history page in The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) and The Sporting Collector magazine."

"The culmination of my work to date is the book, The Rugby Rebellion. This book covers the arrival and development of rugby in the colonies, its growth through the late 1800s, the boom-days of the early 1900s, and the eventual divide in 1907-10."

"I am sure that with both codes today openly professional, The Rugby Rebellion will be of interest and enjoyment to supporters of both codes."[ Visit: The Rugby Rebellion]

August 2007 will see the release of a new book, "The Master: The Life and Times of Dally Messenger" [ more details here].

The first book to chronichle the establishment of Australian rugby and the split with League: The Rugby Rebellion.

Released August 2007 - a new book about "The Master" - Dally Messenger - Australian rugby's first superstar: The Master.

Feedback is always welcome. sf @ colonialrugby.com.au (remove spaces from email address)

Sean Fagan