Our first clue revolves around the first James Bond novel to be published, and also to be filmed.
This was "Casino Royale", written in 1953, when Ian Fleming was forty-four years old, and first filmed, for television, in 1954. Curiously it was just one episode in a long running series of one off dramas, but the lead, James "Jimmy" Bond was played by Barry Nelson, though there was a bit of artistic license as this Bond was an American, working for the CIA. Also in the cast was Peter Lorre, as the villain.
Now as to the reason for our card, because there does not seem to be a card of Barry Nelson the actor (unless you know of one), but there was an Australian first grade rugby league player called Barry Clyde Nelson, who played in the 1950s for two of the teams shown on this set, Newtown and Canterbury-Bankstown.
Sadly he is not shown on this card, but he did manage the team from 1957 to 1961, so it is very possible that some of the players still remembered him.
He would also become their club president in 1982, and remain so for twenty years, at which point he was awarded the medal of the Order of Australia for service to Rugby League football.
He died in 2021, aged eighty nine.
This set is listed in our Australian & New Zealand Index, part two, (RB.33), which was published in 1993. The entry reads :
- N.S,W. Rugby Football League Teams - 1966 (A). 138 x 66. Black. Back in blue, per Fig.DA1-3. Unnd.(8 known). ... DA1-3
1. Australia - First Test, 1966
2. Balmain - First Grade, 1966
3. Eastern Suburbs - First Grade, 1966
4. Great Britain Test Team - 1966
5. Newtown - First Grade, 1966
6. North Sydney - First Grade, 1966
7. Paramatta - First Grade, 1966
8. Western Suburbs - First Grade, 1966.
The picture (Fig.DA1-3) is the same as our card but in black and white. However we know that all the cards were identical, and the signatures are nothing to do with the players on the front, these signatures are the Daily Mirror rugby reporters - Johnny Roper is easy to spot first but the other two are unknown as yet.
We also now know that there are more cards than eight, and it seems certain that the full set is of twelve cards, these being the ten first grade teams which made up the Sydney League, plus the Australia and the Great Britain Test Teams. But because the above list was numbered it is now all thrown out of kilter by the addition of these newly discovered cards. Therefore the true list, unnumbered, but still in alphabetical order, reads
- Australia - First Test, 1966
- Balmain - First Grade, 1966
- Canterbury-Bankstown - First Grade, 1966
- Eastern Suburbs - First Grade, 1966
- Great Britain Test Team - 1966
- Manly-Warringah - First Grade, 1966
- Newtown - First Grade, 1966
- North Sydney - First Grade, 1966
- Paramatta - First Grade, 1966
- South Sydney - First Grade, 1966
- St, George - First Grade, 1966
- Western Suburbs - First Grade, 1966