When Parramatta ran out onto Cumberland Oval on 12th April 1947, one of the men in the crowd of 5,266 supporters was Jack Argent.
One half of the two Jacks that had built Parramatta achieved his goal of seeing a local side in the New South Wales Rugby Football League.
Argent was a keen rugby league fan and former player.
Born in 1905, Argent was a Parramatta local and represented the Parramatta Endeavour junior team in the 1920s, which prompted him to begin pushing for the area to be admitted into the first grade competition being governed by the NSWRFL.
The Parramatta area had been briefly represented by Cumberland in the 1908 season, but the side folded following terrible results.
Alongside his playing of rugby league, Argent joined the Australian Imperial Force in 1923 at the age of 18 as a compulsory cadet.
Upon completing his training he volunteered to serve with the 21st Artillery Brigade based at Parramatta, climbing the ranks to become a Major by the end of the 1930s.
Throughout this period, Argent pushed and lobbied for Parramatta to join the NSWRFL.
In 1936 Argent, alongside Jack Scullin, put together a proposal for Parramatta to be admitted into the first grade competition.
The proposal was voted down by all clubs except Western Suburbs.
With little support, Parramatta’s ascension into first grade rugby league was shelved and then further put to the back burner when World War II broke out in 1939.
Argent headed overseas in 1940. The 2/3 Anti-Tank Regiment were formed in July 1940 at Warwick Farm with Major Argent appointed the commanding officer of 12th Battery.
He departed with his regiment for the Middle East and joined the 9th Division.
Argent’s unit was heavily involved in the siege of Tobruk where his 12th Battery was part of the famous Jock columns, tasked with harassing Rommel’s Afrika Korps and providing relief to those under siege in the seaside city.
In May and June 1941 his unit took out six enemy tanks, three armoured cars, an anti-tank gun, multiple vehicles, an enemy plane and 126 prisoners, suffering only one man wounded.
In 1943 he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and became Commanding Officer of the 2/3 Anti-Tank Regiment. Following Tobruk he served in Alamein, Papua New Guinea and Borneo.
He was awarded the Order of the British Empire for his service during the war.
Upon returning home he set about once again leading Parramatta’s charge to be entered into the NSWRFL and in October 1946 the club was admitted to the competition for the 1947 season.
He was named the first president of the Parramatta Leagues Club and served as secretary/manager of the club throughout a lengthy career.
In 1948 he raised the peacetime 3rd Anti-Tank Regiment, serving as Commanding Officer until he retired from the Army in 1951 with the rank of Colonel. His regiment survives today as the 23 Field Regiment.
In the 1950s Argent spearheaded the development of the Leagues Club alongside Jack Boyle, using his building company to establish the building in 1959 after Boyle had found a property for sale off O’Connell Street that backed into Parramatta Park.
The Leagues Club today is on almost the exact same patch of dirt as it was built in the 1950s.
Alongside his work at Parramatta, Argent was also the manager of the 1959 Kangaroos tour to England which featured the likes of Rex Mossop, Reg Gasnier, Johnny Raper, Eddie Lumsden, Noel Kelly, Poppa Clay and Ian Walsh, coached by Clive Churchill.
He was also a long term member of the NSWRL and became its patron.
Having established the club in the 1940s, Argent then became part of the reason it adopted the Eels moniker.
Following a discussion with journalist Peter Frilingos, with the journalist suggesting the nickname was appropriate in a column, the Eels were officially named in 1965.
Argent passed away in 2004 at the age of 99. His lifetime had seen the introduction of rugby league to Australia, the first and second world wars, the creation of the ARL, the Super League War and the creation of the NRL.
The Colonel was both a builder of the club and a builder of men.
Replies
Jack Argent is a great man, really the father of the league's club and a pretty smart man compared to some of the people that headed up clubs in those days.....we should remember Ken Arthurson was the father of manly who came in the same time as us, but would seem to be much better remembered than the "Colonel". My Late Dad would only just stop short of saluting him every time he saw Jack at Cumberland or in the leagues club.
Great write up Super and the respect with which you reverance our heritage is not lost on me (and obviously not PT either).
PS I am trying to understand that giphy you put up there Grunts, but unless you can say it has some meaning, then it is very disrespectful.......I realise your a totally tactless person but surely you have some respect for foundations?
Yes Grunta , show some respect . Poppa went to school with Colonel Jack. Poppa was just a few grades above him.
Possibly of the best thing I have ever read on here. Everyone that has come after Colonel Jack has stood on his shoulders. Why on Earth is there nothing named after this man? Is there at least a bar named after him at the Leagues Club? Could the new training facilities be named after him? A time when men were men
Isn't there a Jacks Bar in the Leagues club?
And the in-house brewed beer..
Jacks pale ale.
I think Jack's Bar is named after Jack Gibson. Colonel Jack needs his full name somewhere prominent. The new training grounds and playing fields need to be called something. "The Colonel Jack Argent Complex" sounds fine to me along with a statue and memorial plaque inscribed with a copy of Super's article.
That bar is after Jack Boyle my friends grandad who was the other jack who got the leagues club off the ground
Same jack as pale ale
Bloody good stuff. Jack Argent = Parra.
Without him we would be supporting some bums like Balmain, Penrith or fucking Canterbury
Great write up Super..
I've got a hard cover book somewhere that was released in 1986 detailing the club's history up to that date. There's a chapter dedicated to the leagues club which is titled "The House That Jack Built"
One of the titans of our great club.
What a great man! He is Parra as the Badger says.
What a proud day it would have been for him when we killed the witch in 1981.
Kudos and massive respect to Wests Magpies for supporting out bid although we would start eating into their territory. They probably didn't expect Parra to become more popular among fans.
Thanks for the story Super.
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