Reg Date (26 July 1921 – 11 August 1995) was an Australian soccer player who plied his trade after the Second World War. Date played for Wallsend Football Club and Canterbury-Bankstown. He represented Australia in five full international matches, captaining three times.[2][3][4]
Early life
Date was born in Wallsend to Nancy and John "Mick" Date. His father was a fisherman at Lemon Tree Passage, where Date lived until the age of eight, when he moved to live in Wallsend with his mother's parents.[5]
Club career
Date went to Plattsburg Public School in Wallsend, being a prolific goalscorer in their youth matches; he even claimed that he had scored a total of 1,616 career goals including junior football, although there is no evidence of such.[6] He made his debut for Wallsend Football Club in 1938 as a 16-year-old. He joined Canterbury-Bankstown in the state league in 1945. Date continued to live in Wallsend, commuting by train every weekend. In 1948, Date returned to Wallsend.[7] In time he was coached by the great Alf Quill, Wallsend Football Club's legendary goalscorer of the inter-war years.[8][9]
At his peak Date was an incredible goal scorer for Canterbury-Bankstown in the New South Wales Division 1, earning state and international recognition and captaining Australia in three matches against South Africa in a five-game home series against that nation; Date scoring eight goals.[10] He scored another three in two warm-up matches for the 'B' side prior to the official tour.
There was consternation when Date, for whatever reason, was not selected on international tours of New Zealand in 1948 and, most surprisingly, South Africa in 1950, but he did score in a representative match on the national side's return from the Cape for New South Wales against Australia on 2 September 1950 and did appear for the 'B' side in the famous 17–0 defeat to an English XI on 30 June 1951.[11][12]
Legacy
In 2000, he was selected as a member of the Australian team of the century by respondents to an RSSSF vote, beating Frank Farina into second place for the number 10 shirt.[13]
Later life
Date worked for years running hotels in the Newcastle area. He became the publican of the Queens Arms Hotel in Maitland in 1947, moving to the Ocean View Hotel in Dudley the next year. In 1954, Date took over the Albion Hotel in Wickham, where he worked until his retirement in 1980.[4][14] In a 2012 interview with The Sydney Morning Herald, his Australia teammate Joe Marston rated Date as the best Australian player that he had played with or against, adding, "Great player. Great bloke. But boy he could drink. The selectors, they never liked Reggie. He was too much of a larrikin. They couldn't handle him."[15]
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season, and competition. Only official games are included in this table.[16]
^Cockerill, Michael (27 December 1999). "A Date with destiny". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 39. Archived from the original on 10 August 2022. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
^"DATE GETS CLEARANCE". The Daily Telegraph. Vol. IX, no. 22. New South Wales, Australia. 11 April 1948. p. 23. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Soccer record claimed". The Sun. No. 13288. New South Wales, Australia. 10 September 1952. p. 35 (LATE FINAL EXTRA). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 5 May 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Australia Vs England 1951". 29 July 2008. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^"South African's 2-1 Victory In Soccer Test". The Sun. No. 11, 635. New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1947. p. 6 (FINAL FOOTBALL LASTRACE). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"DATE'S SHOOT-LADDIES SHACKLED". Truth. No. 2461. Queensland, Australia. 25 May 1947. p. 9. Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
^"Australia Wins Soccer 5-1". The Sun. No. 11, 659. New South Wales, Australia. 7 June 1947. p. 7 (FINAL FOOTBALL LAST RACE). Archived from the original on 30 January 2024. Retrieved 21 December 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
