Eddie Lumsden
Winger
Player Bio
- Inducted:
- 2008
- Date of Birth:
- 28 September 1935
- Birthplace:
- Kurri Kurri, NSW
- Nickname:
- Gumleaves
- Debut Team:
- Manly Warringah
- Date:
- 02 April 1955
- Opposition:
- Balmain
- Venue:
- Leichhardt Oval, Sydney
- Representative:
- Country, City, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Clubs:
- Kurri Kurri, Manly Warringah, St George Dragons
Career
Milestones
- Premierships: 1957-59, 1961-66
- NSW Country Team of the Century: 2008
- Kangaroo Tour: 1959-60
- Rated No. 69 in Rugby League Week’s Top 100 players: 1992
Playing
- First Class Games
- 265
- Points
- 681
- Tries
- 211
Biography
St George's 23–4 defeat of Balmain in 1966 was the ninth winning grand final for Eddie Lumsden, a winger who had trekked from Kurri Kurri in 1956 after making the Country Seconds to try his luck (for the second time) in the Sydney premiership.
Having previously stopped briefly at Manly, Lumsden signed with Saints and stayed a decade (1957–66), scoring 136 tries in 155 premiership matches. In two grand finals (1959 and 1961), he scored three tries.
Lumsden, tall and rawboned and with real speed, was a right winger with a fend and a hip bump that left many a would-be tackler grasping at nothing. In his first season at Saints, he scored 18 tries in 16 matches; in his last, he twice scored three tries in a game.
In between, he was remarkably reliable and consistent. Johnny King said of him: ''He was the strongest winger I have ever seen. When Eddie got the ball within 20 yards of the tryline the rest of us would start walking back to halfway''.
Lumsden played 15 Tests and 19 games for NSW, and made the 1959–60 Kangaroo tour, although the tries did not flow quite as freely for him at representative level. Later, he was a NSW and Australian selector.
“A devastating runner who was almost impossible to stop once he got a sniff of the tryline.”
Johnny King Wing team-mate of the 1960s
55. Eddie Lumsden - Hall of Fame
Career Stats
Club Career
| Team Name | Competition | Year Start | Year End | Played | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kurri Kurri | Newcastle Competition | 1954 | 1956 | - | - | - | - | - |
| Manly-Warringah | Premiership | 1955 | 1955 | 4 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| St George Dragons | Premiership | 1957 | 1966 | 158 | 136 | 17 | - | 442 |
| St George Dragons | Official Pre-Season | 1962 | 1966 | 25 | 17 | - | - | 51 |
| St George Dragons | Touring Sides | 1962 | 1962 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| St George Dragons | Ampol Cup | 1963 | 1963 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| St George Dragons | State Cup | 1964 | 1965 | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 |
Representative Career
City - Country
| Team Name | Opponent | Year Start | Year End | Played | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country Seconds | City Seconds | 1956 | 1956 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| City Seconds | Country Seconds | 1958 | 1959 | 2 | 1 | - | - | 3 |
| City Firsts | Country Firsts |
1957
1960 |
1957
1963 |
5 | 5 | - | - | 15 |
| City | Country | 1959 | 1959 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Sydney | Touring Sides | 1962 | 1962 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
State
| Team Name | Competition | Opponent | Year Start | Year End | Played | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New South Wales | Interstate Series | Queensland |
1957
1959 |
1957
1963 |
17 | 12 | 7 | - | 50 |
| New South Wales | Touring Sides |
1960
1963 |
1960
1963 |
2 | 2 | - | - | 6 |
International
| Team Name | Competition | Year Start | Year End | Played | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | Tests | 1959 | 1963 | 15 | 4 | - | - | 12 |
| Australia | Tour Matches | 1959 | 1961 | 27 | 28 | - | - | 84 |
Other Representative
| Team Name | Opponent | Year Start | Year End | Played | Tries | Goals | Field Goals | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW Colts | Great Britain | 1958 | 1958 | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Possibles | Probables | 1959 | 1959 | 1 | 2 | - | - | 6 |
Hall of Fame Members
National Rugby League respects and honours the Traditional Custodians of the land and pay our respects to their Elders past, present and future. We acknowledge the stories, traditions and living cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the lands we meet, gather and play on.
