Rugby
League Players Association (RLPA) is currently in robust discussions about how
much extra money the game’s players should be earning, culminating this past
week in claims that the NRL’s elite players could hold a vote to determine if
they will boycott the upcoming World Cup.
While
opinions for and against are fired across the bow, one can only think that the
players could do with a reality check and think back to the man who sacrificed
everything – two of the best years of his career, a grand final victory,
further Test matches, his marriage, his health and most significantly his
wealth – so as to obtain the freedom that players today are taking for granted.
Dennis
Tutty was graded by Balmain in 1964, aged just 17, and proved just how good he
was by being promoted to first grade. Balmain reached the grand final in 1964
against all-conquering St George, and while the Tigers, like the eight teams in
the last eight years before them, failed to beat the mighty Dragons side, Tutty
set the record for being the youngest player to appear in a first grade
decider.
After the
grand final loss, Balmain and Tutty came to terms, with the young back-rower
signing a three-year contract with the club, including a sign-on fee of $3,000.
In those
days, once a player was registered to a club, that club essentially owned the
player. The player could not play for another club, even if an agreed contract
had expired. All the club had to do was state that said player would be
retained for the next year and the player could do nothing about it.
The only
way a player could change clubs is if the club put them on the transfer market.
This was known as the transfer and retention system.
In
Tutty’s final year at Balmain, 1967, he won a Test jumper, appearing in the
first Test against the visiting New Zealand side. Australia won the game,
however Tutty was replaced by Ron Lynch for the remainder of the series.
After his
contract ended, Tutty asked to be put on the transfer list by Balmain. Being a
current Test player, Balmain refused. Tutty then approached the NSWRL Board to
see if they could overrule the club’s decision, but they showed no interest.
The Tigers then placed Tutty on their retained list for 1968, meaning he had to
play for them – despite not having a contract with the club.
In March
of 1968, Tutty again requested to be put up for transfer but was met with this
brutal but expected response from Balmain secretary Kevin Humphreys: “I am
afraid it’s a case of playing for us or no one.”
Three
weeks later, Tutty publicly stated, “I’ve given rugby league away. I’ve really
had a stomach full of it.” This upset Balmain club officials, however they
remained steadfast in their decision to deny him a transfer request.
By May of
1968 it was reported that neither Tutty or Balmain had agreed to terms for the
current season, of which Tutty had yet to a play a single game. Tutty, it
seemed, was keeping a close eye on legal action that Denis Pittard had launched
against his club, Western Suburbs, for refusing to let him move to another club
despite not being under contract with them. Tutty did eventually make a verbal
agreement with Balmain to play out the year for the club and he returned in
reserve grade on the first weekend of May. He was immediately called up to the
first grade side the following week, where he played out the season.
At the
end of the year, Balmain again listed Tutty as retained.
With
Pittard’s case failing to rule in his favour, Tutty became even more determined
to change the system. In late January of 1969 it was reported that Balmain now
had six players that were unhappy with the club: Peter Jones, Hal Browne,
Laurie Moraschi, Gary Leo, John Spencer and Tutty.
Humphreys stated
categorically that the club had no interest in speak with the disgruntled
players, saying, “There’s no point in seeing the players again.”
On May
24, 1969, Tutty and teammate Jones were joined by Western Suburbs’ John Elford
as they appeared in the Equity Court to challenge the NSWRL transfer system.
Elford was seeking a declaration that the League’s rules regarding transfers
were invalid. He argued that the NSWRL transfer system contained similar
provisions to those which had been declared invalid in other countries. It
meant that a man could never play for another club until his present club had
granted him permission, even if he wasn’t playing any games for any club
anywhere.
Elford’s
case failed just as Pittard’s had. Meanwhile, Tutty had sat out the entire 1969
season, which also saw him miss out on being a part of the astonishing Balmain
victory in the grand final that year against highly fancied South Sydney.
Despite
having not played a game since 1968, the Tigers again retained Tutty for the
1970 season.
On May 4,
1970, Tutty this time launched his case against the NSWRL at the Full Equity
Court, where he asked them to rule that the refusal of his transfer
applications to Balmain were a “restraint of trade.”
On
October 2, 1970, the Equity Court finally handed down its verdict. The Full
Equity Court ruled invalid and restraint of trade against the NSWRL’s player
transfer system. The court ordered a suspension of the orders for 28 days in
response to an application by the NSWRL, which claimed that a “degree of chaos”
would ensue if the orders were implemented immediately.
On
December 9, 1970, the NSWRL were granted leave to appeal against the Full
Equity Court’s decision of invalidating the Leagues transfer system.
Balmain
again retained Tutty for the 1971 season. Tutty agreed to play for the club
during the year.
The
League appealed the Full Equity Court’s decision in mid-1971. But on December
13 that year, the High Court ruled unanimously in favour of Tutty, thus
upholding the decision of the Equity Court 14 months prior.
Dennis
Tutty said of the decision, “I have beaten them. I am free.”
A week
later, the NSWRL had come to a decision to replace their transfer system with a
player contract system. Many players were off-contract and able to negotiate
better financial deals for themselves.
Tutty
immediately joined Penrith, where he stayed for three years, before moving to
Easts for 1975 and then, somewhat surprisingly, returning to Balmain in 1976
before retiring as a player. He then became Balmain’s head coach in 1980 before
stepping down at the end of the year to take on other duties at the club. He
was so appalled at the club’s decision to sack Warren Ryan at the end of the
1990 season, that he followed Ryan to the Magpies.
He was
also shocked when the NSWRL tried to impose a player draft in 1991, as it was
seemingly a return to the system he fought so hard to shut down, where players
were forced to play at clubs they may not have wanted to be playing for. That
system was abandoned after just one season, thanks largely to Terry Hill.
One man,
one very determined man, who sacrificed everything, whose success paved the way
for the financial boon that all players benefit from today.
The same
players who are earning hundreds of thousands of dollars per year and are
seeing genuine wage growth, far better than the overwhelming majority of fans
who watch the game.
The same players who are considering to abandon the World Cup, which is not an NRL competition and should not be used as a hostage in these discussions. Perhaps they should realise that if it weren’t for men like Dennis Tutty, they would most certainly be earning vastly less money, with no freedom to find a better offer elsewhere.
****This article appeared on Commentary Box Sports website on August 24, 2017****
