The Tom Richards Cup, also known as the Tom Richards Trophy, is an international rugby union trophy awarded to the winner of British & Irish Lions vs. Australia test series. It was commissioned for the 2001 British & Irish Lions tour series and the inaugural winner was Australia, who won the series 2–1. This was the first time that Australia had managed to defeat the Lions in a series. Twelve years later, the Lions won the 2013 tour to Australia 1–2, making them the current holders of the trophy. The two teams' first meeting was in Australia in 1899 where they played a four test series, won by the Lions 3–1.
Arthur 'Pony' Halloway (1885–1961), was a pioneering Australian rugby league footballer and coach. Born in Sydney, New South Wales he played for the Glebe Dirty Reds (1908), Balmain Tigers and Eastern Suburbs (1912–1914), in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership. He played for New South Wales in the first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.
Dan Frawley (1882–1967) was a pioneer Australian rugby league footballer, a national representative player. He played his career as a wing with the Eastern Suburbs club in Sydney and is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. A fast and agile wing, with an ability to effortlessly change direction, Frawley was at club and representative levels generally positioned on the outside of rugby league Immortal Dally Messenger, creating a formidable combination. He was a noted speedster who, on the 1908–09 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain, was acclaimed as the "100 yards champion" of the squad.
Herbert R. Gilbert was an Australian rugby league and rugby union player – a dual-code international. He represented the Wallabies in three Tests in 1910 and the Kangaroos in seven Tests from 1911 to 1920, his last two as captain. The captain-coach of the St. George Dragons club in Sydney in their inaugural season, he is considered one of Australia's finest footballers of the 20th century. His sons, Herb Gilbert, Jr and Jack Gilbert were also notable rugby league footballers.
Patrick Bernard "Nimmo" Walsh was a pioneer Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international, who saw active duty with the Australian Imperial Force in the first World War. He represented the Wallabies in three Tests in 1904 and the Kangaroos in three Tests on the first tour of Great Britain in 1908–09.
Harold Norman Horder was an Australian rugby league player. He was a national and state representative player whose club career was with South Sydney and North Sydney between 1912 and 1924. Regarded as one of the greatest wingers to play the game, from 1924 until 1969 his 152 career tries was the NSWRFL record.
Sydney Albert 'Syd' Middleton DSO, OBE was an Australian Army officer and national representative rugby union player and rower. He won a gold medal in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics and competed in rowing at the 1912 Summer Olympics.
Daniel Brendon Carroll DSC was an Australian national representative rugby union player. He was a dual Olympic gold medalist, winning in rugby at the 1908 Summer Olympics for Australia and also winning gold for the United States at the 1920 Summer Olympics.
Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE was an Australian veteran of both WWI and WWII and a rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He was wounded on active service in WWI and has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century, and is regarded as the father of modern coaching. He was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1960 New Year Honours "for services to the community in the field of Sport."
William George "Twit" Tasker was an Australian World War I soldier who had been a national representative rugby union player making six Test appearances for the Wallabies.
Alfred James Webb was an English-born international rugby union footballer who played club rugby for Abertillery, and county rugby for Monmouthshire. He won 20 caps for Wales and was part of the 1910 touring British Isles team to South Africa.
Tom Lawton Snr was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative five-eighth who made 44 appearances for the Wallabies, played in 14 Test matches and captained the national side on ten occasions.
Ralph Robertson was an Australian rules footballer who played with St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and had a noted career in New South Wales.
Warden Selby Prentice was an Australian sportsman who captained Australia at rugby union and New South Wales at first-class cricket and also played first-grade rugby league for the Western Suburbs Magpies.
Edward Rennix Larkin was an Australian parliamentarian and a national representative rugby union player. Larkin was the member for Willoughby in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from December 1913 until his death. He served in the 1st AIF, and was killed in action on the first day of the Gallipoli Campaign. He was one of only two serving members of any Australian parliament to fall in World War I — the other was George Braund, also a New South Wales MLA who fell at Gallipoli.
Frank Cheadle was an Australian pioneering rugby league footballer and AIF soldier who fell in World War I. A New South Wales interstate and Australian international representative centre, he was reputedly the first Sydney rugby union player to sign with the new breakaway league in its earliest formative days in late 1907. He played for New South Wales in the first rugby match run by the newly created 'New South Wales Rugby Football League' which had just split away from the established New South Wales Rugby Football Union.
Blair Inskip Swannell was an English-born international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Northampton, and internationally for the British Isles and later Australia. He was invited to tour with the British Isles on their 1899 tour of Australia and then their 1904 tour of Australia and New Zealand. He played a total of seven Test matches on these tours, and scored one Test try – against Australia during the 1904 tour. After settling in Australia, Swannell played a single game for his new home when they faced New Zealand. He was viewed as a violent player, and this made him unpopular with other players. Former Australian captain Herbert Moran said of him that "... his conception of rugby was one of trained violence".
William Thornton Watson, DSO, MC, DCM was a New Zealander who served as an officer in the Australian Imperial Force in both World Wars. Prior to and after the First World War he had a distinguished rugby union career, representing Australia in eight Test matches and captaining the national side on three occasions. During the New Guinea Campaign in the Second World War he was the Commanding Officer of the Papuan Infantry Battalion. Following the war, he served as Australia's Vice – Consul to New York.
The 1912 Australia rugby union tour of Canada and the United States was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the Australia national rugby union team against various invitational teams from Canada and the U.S, and also against the US national team.
