Wests player #143 was listed as J. Nicholson. He has an interesting history as within five seasons he played for five clubs in the two rugby codes. He was a prominent player and represented in rugby union in 1911 and 1913.
With this information readily available, it would be reasonable to assume that he would be easy to identify. However, with every notation in newspapers of the time, he was only referred to as J. Nicholson or Nicholson.
There are some key pieces of information which might give a clue to his identity. On several occasions reference was made to his diminutive size with one report describing him as a “midget.”
He played much of his football in the Eastern Suburbs and South Sydney districts but played in the Western Suburbs in 1912 and 1914.
Rugby League researcher Tony McCarron reviewed every J. Nicholson that he could find in NSW. With the parameters outlined above and the use of facial recognition tools it has been concluded to a high level of satisfaction that the player in question was James Edward Hosking Nicholson.
