C. Clifford played one match for Wests in 1909 against Newcastle in Newcastle on 26 June.
The Selected Team was,
Back: T Phelan, Three-quarters: Gormley, Medcalf, McFadyen, Spears, Halves: Fletcher, Wallis, Forwards: Ellis, Courtney, Shaw, Luhr, Mead (C), Herington.
The Team that played was,
C. Clifford replaced Tom Phelan at fullback, Ray Gormley was at halfback replacing Claude Wallis, Ern Holloway came into the side on the wing, William Wenban came into the three-quarters to replace Bill Medcalf. Tedda Courtney, Sam Shaw and Charles Luhr were replaced by Bill Elliott, Richard Casey and William Scott in the forwards.
Six players withdrew from the match but Wests were able to replace four with reserve players. However the team was effectively two players short.
Wests could not find replacement players at short notice and so had to “borrow” two players to have a full complement. One of these players was William Scott and the other was C. Clifford.
William Scott was a Newcastle player but it is unknown where C. Clifford was from or if in fact that was his real name.
A player named Clifford was playing for Western Suburbs Rugby Union in 1910 but nothing more is known about him. Could he have made the trip north with a few league mates and then been roped into playing?
The player Clifford, like William Scott only played this one game for Wests. In the match report he was quite prominent and no doubt was a good player. Why he cannot be easily identified remains a mystery.
The Wests Archive would like to know more about this player. If you have any information, please contact the Archive at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club on:
(02) 8752 2021 or (02) 8752 2022 or email westsarchive@holmanbarnesgroup.com.au
