Rugby League History - RL1908.com

Joe 'Chimpy' Busch: Was It A Try?

Sean Fagan of RL1908.com

Not too many players can claim such a meteoritic rise to international football as Joe 'Chimpy' Busch. He came from being a professional fisherman and unknown barefoot country centre, to Australian Test halfback within the space of four months.

Busch was a tall man but was fast and deadly at the base of the scrum, could throw a bullet-like pass at the blink of an eye and was the master of blind-side play.

He was spotted by Easts' star and talent scout Dinny Campbell while playing barefoot in the centres for Harwood Island on the far north coast of NSW in 1926. Campbell, former team-mate of the legendary Dally Messanger, advised Busch to go to Sydney to trial with the Roosters at the beginning of the next season.

But disaster struck. Busch broke an ankle in a local flood and had to postpone his trip until he recovered. The following season, aged 19, he made the trip to Sydney arriving with a 100 or so young hopefuls for trials at Centennial Park. It didn't take long for "Chimpy" to grab the limelight.

Playing halfback he a threw a couple of dummies to a number of "seasoned" stars and scampered away to score. The selectors didn't need to see any more. Busch was named as first grade halfback.

Within a couple of matches he had claimed a place in the NSW side for the clash against Queensland where he found instant stardom. For years after, fans talked about Busch's try when he took the ball from the base of a scrum and shot down the blind-side with Test winger Benny Wearing in support. As the Maroon defence closed in, Busch held the ball back from Wearing - he dummied to him five times before scoring a brilliant individual try.

A couple of weeks later he was chosen as the Australian halfback for the second and third Tests against the touring Lions from England. But Busch is best remembered for a sensational moment in the third Test on the 1929-30 Kangaroo tour of England.

Australia were trying to win back the Ashes which had been held by England since 1911. Both sides had snared one Test each with the third, at Swinton, to decide the series. In the end it was to become one of the most recalled and controversial test matches in rugby league history.

The match, a tense affair, was locked at nil-all with only three minutes left to play when Australia won a scrum 30 metres from the English line. Busch collected the ball and scooted down the sideline. He crashed over the try-line in the corner with England lock Frank Butters on his back making a last-ditch attempt to stop him. As the corner post went flying the crowd spilled onto the field in excitement. Referee Robinson was set to award Australia the try and the game (and with it the Ashes) when the touch-judge emerged through the crowd claiming Busch had taken out the corner post before grounding the ball.

Even though the referee believed it was a fair try he had no option but to rule "no try". He was reported as saying to the Kangaroos "fair try Australia, but I am overruled". The drawn result and the furore that erupted after the game (many English supporters and players also thought the try to be fair) resulted in the ERL hastily organising an unprecedented 4th Test. England won another close encounter and held the Ashes yet again.

Busch later played four seasons with Leeds before returning to Australia to take on the captain-coach role with Balmain. Despite a leg injury forcing his retirement in mid-1936 he took his Balmain side to the 1936 premiership decider, but they were no match for his old club Eastern Suburbs.

Joe 'Chimpy' Busch - 1998 Busch's stance never wavered during his life, maintaining throughout that he had scored a fair try.

An avid watcher of rugby league right up until he passed away - the implementation of the video replay struck a chord with Busch: "If only..."

Sources: RLW's Top 100 - published 1992,
Sean Fagan meeting with Joe 'Chimpy' Busch 1998