Redfern All Blacks

Redfern All Blacks is the oldest Indigenous Australian rugby league club in Australia.{{cite web|title=Items of Interest from NSW Aborigines Welfare Board's Magazine "Dawn": Redfern All Blacks|url=http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1960s/dawn/dawn23a.html|work=New Dawn|publisher=New Dawn (on The Koori History Website)|accessdate=9 April 2013|author=Ken Brindle|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120601195340/http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/images/history/1960s/dawn/dawn23a.html|archivedate=1 June 2012|date=June 1970}}{{cite web|title=Redfern All Blacks Rugby League Club|url=http://dictionaryofsydney.org/organisation/redfern_all_blacks_rugby_league_club|publisher=Dictionary of Sydney|accessdate=9 April 2013}}{{cite web|title=About Us: Who are the Redfern All Blacks (RAB)|url=http://www.sportingpulse.com/club_info.cgi?c=7-2153-20427-0-0&sID=18925|publisher=SportingPulse|accessdate=10 April 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220031701/http://www.sportingpulse.com/club_info.cgi?c=7-2153-20427-0-0&sID=18925|archivedate=20 February 2008}}{{cite web|title=Rabbitohs and NASCA form new alliance|url=http://rleague.com/db/article.php?id=26140|work=Press Release|publisher=South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club|accessdate=10 April 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121026010435/http://www.rleague.com/content/article.php?id=26140|archivedate=26 October 2012}} It was co-founded in 1938 by Bill Onus and Wesley Simms,{{cite web| url=https://www.daao.org.au/bio/bill-onus/biography/| website= Design & Art Australia Online| title=Bill Onus| author= Kleinert, Sylvia| date= 2011| access-date=18 November 2022}} during the Great Depression.{{cite web|title=The Redfern All Blacks|url=http://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/central/redfern-all-blacks-0|work=A History of Aboriginal Sydney|publisher=University of Sydney|accessdate=9 April 2013|author=Charles "Chicka" Madden}}{{cite web|title=Making Tracks: Chicka Madden|url=http://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/central/making-tracks-chicka-madden|work=A History of Aboriginal Sydney|publisher=University of Sydney|accessdate=9 April 2013|author=Charles "Chicka" Madden}} Some reports suggest that the club was officially established by a group of non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people in 1944.{{cite web|title=All Blacks the team to beat |url=http://www.southsydneyherald.com.au/all-blacks-the-team-to-beat/|publisher=The South Sydney Herald|accessdate=9 April 2013|author=Ada Lee|date=1 April 2013}}

The club, often referred to as RABs or Redfern, was named after their black guernseys, part of the uniform provided by the South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League in their first playing season. At the time the club was formed, Aboriginal Australians were denied rights afforded to other Australians.{{cite web|title=Liquor poll postponed in 41 places|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48490009|publisher=Barrier Miner|accessdate=10 April 2013|date=15 February 1947}} Socially, culturally and politically, the club was important to many Indigenous Australians in Redfern at the time, and the club today is central to the history of Aboriginal Redfern.{{cite web |url= http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/aboriginal_rugby_league_in_sydney |title = Aboriginal Rugby League in Sydney | author = Heidi Norman | year = 2011 |work = Dictionary of Sydney |publisher = Dictionary of Sydney Trust |accessdate =10 April 2013}}{{cite web|title=Ken Brindle|url=http://indigenousrights.net.au/person.asp?pID=959|publisher=National Museum of Australia|accessdate=9 April 2013|author=National Museum of Australia}}

In 1969, Redfern's rugby team had already made a name for itself, and the team were invited to play in New Zealand against the local Māori team in 1971. The All Blacks left a significant impression on the Kiwis, defeating the Maori team in a number of games.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}

In 1971, the Redfern All Blacks became one of the founding member clubs that formed the inaugural NSW Koori Knockout in which seven teams participated.{{Cite web |title=Aboriginal Rugby League in Sydney {{!}} The Dictionary of Sydney |url=https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/aboriginal_rugby_league_in_sydney |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=dictionaryofsydney.org}}

{{no sources |section|date=February 2025}}

• Matthew Allwood
• Josh Addo-Carr
• Andrew Dunemann
• Solomon Haumono
• Greg Inglis
• Bobby McLeod
• Nathan Merritt
• Anthony Mundine
• Tony Mundine
• Wes Patten
• Shane Phillips, CEO of Tribal Warrior
• Reece Robinson
• Travis Robinson
• Gorden Tallis
• Darrell Trindall
• Dean Widders
• Jonathan Wright

• South Sydney District Junior Rugby Football League (A Grade)
• Six: 1974, 1987, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018
• NSW Koori Knockout Men Titles
• Eight: 1972, 1973, 1978, 1979, 1992, 1993, 2015, 2016
• Koori vs. Murri Interstate Challenge
• One: 2017
• NSWRL Women's Premiership Titles
• Two: 2005, 2017
• NSW Koori Knockout Women Titles
• Five: 2010, 2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

{{Rugby league squad

|squadname=Redfern All Blacks

|BC1=#000000

|FC1=white

|BC2=Black

|FC2=White

|date=

|column1_title=2018 Squad

|list1a={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=FB | no= 1 | name=Kieran Mundine }}

|list1b={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=WG | no= 2 | name=Travis Robinson }}

|list1c={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=CE | no= 3 | name=Kieran Vale }}

|list1d={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=CE | no= 4 | name=Liam Talivaa }}

|list1e={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=WG | no= 5 | name=Kyle Mundine }}

|list1f={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=FE | no= 6 | name=Kareel Phillips }}

|list1g={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=HB | no= 7 | name=Michael Moran }}

|list1h={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=PR | no= 8 | name=Shaun Mealey }}

|list1i={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=HK | no= 9 | name=Cameron Dennis }}

|list1j={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=PR | no=10 | name=Dean Widders | captain=y }}

|list1k={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=SR | no=11 | name=Stephen Ryan }}

|list1l={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=SR | no=12 | name=Robert Ryan }}

|list1m={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=LK | no=13 | name=Steven Winters }}

|list2a={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=14 | name=Heath Fernando}}

|list2b={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=15 | name=Trent Robinson}}

|list2c={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=16 | name=Luciano Svagelli}}

|list2d={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=17 | name=Peni Roqica}}

|list2e={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=18 | name=Matthew Hickey}}

|list2f={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=19 | name=Dean Jr Widders}}

|list2g={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=20 | name=Craig McKenzie}}

|list2h={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=21 | name=Dylan Grant}}

|list2i={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=22 | name=Nayden Simon}}

|list2j={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=23 | name=Sam Hampton}}

|list2k={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=24 | name=Troy Gordon}}

|list2l={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=25 | name=Ezekiel Phillips}}

|list2m={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=26 | name=Rhys Haynes}}

|list2n={{Rugby league squad player | leagueicon= | pos=| no=27 | name=Steven Smith}}

|coach=Dean Widders

}}

{{Portal|Sports|New South Wales}}

• List of rugby league clubs in Australia
• List of senior rugby league clubs in New South Wales

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.sportingpulse.com/club_info.cgi?c=7-2153-122887-0-0 Sportingpulse]{{Dead link|date=April 2013}}
• [http://redfernoralhistory.org/Default.aspx?tabid=211 Redfern Oral History - RABs page]
• [http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/RILEY/Detail.cfm?IRN=149542&ViewID=2 Portrait of the Redfern All Blacks 1979] Portrait by Michael Riley
• Jackie Hartley, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27516887 Black, White... And Red? The Redfern All Blacks Rugby League Club in the Early 1960s], Labour History, No. 83 (Nov., 2002), Australian Society for the Study of Labour History, Inc.
• John Lester, [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/research/conf2009/presentations/Day1/MCC1/MC1_U1.1_3.pdf You can take the black kid out of Redfern but you can't take the Redfern out of the black kid!], presentation to Perspectives on Urban Life: Connections and Reconnections AIATSIS National Indigenous Studies Conference 2009.

• {{Official website|http://www.redfernallblacks.com/}}
• {{Facebook|redfernallblacksrlfc}}

{{Indigenous Australians}}

Category:Rugby league teams in Sydney

Category:Indigenous Australian sport

Category:Rugby clubs established in 1944

Category:1944 establishments in Australia

Category:Redfern, New South Wales