Keith Victor “Yappy” Holman (MBE)

HERITAGE No: 460

WESTS LIFE MEMBER No: 50

BIRTH: 11 September 1927

Ballarat, Victoria

DEATH: 11 October 2011 Sydney, NSW

DEATH: 11 October 2011

Sydney, NSW

OCCUPATION: Salesman, 1949, 1954

RESIDENCE: Cobra St Dubbo, NSW 1949; 9 Rosa St Croydon, NSW 1949; Palmer St Sefton, NSW, 1954

GAME HISTORY

Ipswich CYMS RL 1946
South Sydney RL (Trialled and Rejected)
Manly Warringah RL (Listed 3^rd Grade – Bench, one game) April 1947
Dubbo Waratahs RL 1947
Wests RL 2^nd Grade 1948
Wests RL First Grade 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961
Wests RL City Cup 1959
Probables RL v Possibles RL 1950, 1959
NSW RL Firsts v Queensland RL Firsts 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958
Sydney RL Firsts 1951, 1953, 1954, 1956, 1958
City RL Firsts v Queensland RL Firsts 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958
Australia RL v Great Britain RL 1950, 1954, 1958
Australia RL v France RL 1951, 1955
Australia RL v New Zealand RL 1952, 1953, 1956
Australian Kangaroos RL v Great Britain 1952-1953
Australian Kangaroos RL v France 1952-1953
Australian RL World Cup v Great Britain 1954
Australian RL World Cup v France 1954
Australian Kangaroos RL v Great Britain 1956-1957
Australian Kangaroos RL v France 1956-1957
Australian RL World Cup v New Zealand 1957
NSW Rugby League Referee 1964-1974
Port Kembla RL (Coach) 1975, 1976
Wests RL (Coach) 1977

In his own words …..

It is difficult to tabulate all of Keith Holman’s achievements in a long and successful career. Keith provided an extensive list of his achievement to Wests for the record. This has been reproduced below in his own words.

1954 3^rd Prize Runners Up
1958 Shared 1^st Prize with Rex Mossop
Also have a park in Concord named after me, along with Tom Raudonikas
1958 Won TV for Best and Fairest Australian Player Series
1956 Vice-Captain of Australia v New Zealand
1958 Captain of the NSW team
1958 Vice-Captain of Australian team v England
1998 Made Patron of the Western Suburbs Supporters Club
Member of the NSW Coaching Council
Coached and refereed all over Australia – Darwin, Alice Springs, Western Australia, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, NSW, Queensland, New Guinea, Malaysia (Penang RAAF Base)
1946 First played 1^st Grade CYMS Ipswich Qld
Represented Air Force and Navy v Army at the Gabba Queensland
1947 Played First Grade with Dubbo Waratahs
Represented Dubbo Group 11
Went to Country Trials at Wollongong
1948 Eric Bennett took me to Wests – Played 203 First Grade and 16 Reserve Grade matches
Captain/Coach Wests 1954 and 1955
Captain Wests 1955 to 1958
Vice-Captain Wests 1961
1952-1961 Was the players representative for Wests
1959- 1961 Schools Committee
Rep Football – Possibles v Probables 3 games
Sydney v Country, Great Britain, France, New Zealand, America, Brisbane 15 games
NSW v Queensland, Great Britain, France, New Zealand, USA 28 games

During 14 year career played: Games

Wests First Grade 203
Wests Reserve Grade 16
Possibles v Probables 3
Sydney Representative 15
NSW Representative 28
Australia Representative (Tests) 35
Tour matches (Non Tests) 35
TOTAL 335

Referee 1964-1974: Games

First Grade 149
Reserve Grade 60
Third Grade 5
First grade Semi Finals 1
Reserve Grade Semi Finals 4
Third Grade Semi Finals 7
Reserve Grade Finals 3
Third Grade Finals 4
First Grade Grand Finals 1
Reserve Grade Grand Finals 4
Third Grade Grand Finals 2
Pre-season 30
Pre-season Semi Finals 1
Pre-season Finals 1
Arch Foley Shield Qld Grand Final 2
Alice Springs v NT Grand Final 1
Darwin NT Grand Final 1
Darwin v Western Australia 3
NSW v Queensland 2
City v Country 4
Inter Territory New Guinea 3
Endeavour Cup matches 4
Endeavour Cup Final 1
Papua v Second Division 1
NSW v New Zealand School Boys 6
New Guinea v NSW School Boys 2
Western Aust. Colts v Manly Colts 1
H Flegg Memorial Trophy 3
Police Grand Finals 1
Police Semi Finals 1
TOTAL 308

Important Matches Refereed:

Great Britain v Colts (Endeavour Field) 1970
NSW v Queensland (Brisbane) 1971
Amco Cup (Leichhardt) 1974
Two Tests Australia v New Zealand 1972

Other:

1957 was made Life Member of Western Suburbs while still playing
1961 Retired from football, had a testimonial at Sydney Sports Ground
Was made an honorary member of the Sydney Cricket Ground
1961 Started the NSW Coaching Panel with Dave Brown and others
1981-1987 Chairman of NSW Coaching Panel
Holder of Level 1, 2, 3 and 4 Coaching Certificates
Honored by Western Suburbs JRLFC with a junior club named after him (Holman JRLFC)
Made a Life Member of Papua New Guinea for Refereeing and Coaching in that country
1977 awarded MBE
1977 Coached Wests to Amco Cup win
1979 Inducted into NSW Hall of Fame
1983 Made Life Member of NSW Rugby League
1987 Became a Metropolitan Selector – Retired as Selector 1999
1991 Coached in Tasmania – Presented Keith Holman Medal for Best and Fairest
1991 Received the Eunice Gill award for coaching and education of rugby league in Canberra
Inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame
1992 Had a junior knock out competition named after me at Campbelltown, NSW
1993 Made a Life Patron of Western Suburbs JRLFC (Campbelltown)
1950, 1951 and 1956 won the Herald Newspaper award outright
1953 shared 1^st Prize with Barry Stenhouse

Keith

Under Construction

Keith Holman enlisted with the RAAF 1944