Jim Hale

Hale was graded with the South Sydney club in 1940 and switched mid-season to join St. George with whom he played seven seasons between 1941 and 1947.

He is remembered as the second-row forward in the St George side that was defeated in the 1946 Grand Final by Balmain. At the end of the game, Jim Hale and his ex team-mate Herb Gilbert, Jr. were involved in a brawl when a spectator jumped onto the Sydney Cricket Ground playing area and punched Hale. The incident almost caused a riot amongst rival players and fans and resulted in a number of arrests by police.

Hale, like his father Percy (1887-1953), was an amateur heavy-weight boxer, and the brawl between him and Gilbert was a huge talking point in the Sydney press for days afterward. A brother, Bill Hale also played for St. George^[1]

After retiring from Sydney first grade football, Hale captain coached the Boorowa Rovers Rugby League Club in 1948–1949.^[2]

Hale died on 28 December 1992, aged 76.^[3]