Dubbo players enjoyed a reasonably varied programme in 1899. The two local teams played a series of three games for what became known as the Ross-Utley cup. One game was contested against the Nomads, a team formed spontaneously and with no special territorial loyalties. The rest of the seven fixtures involved teams from Wellington, Burrell Creek and Narromine. Newtown won the Ross-Utley cup from Ormondes with two wins and a draw. The Dubbo v Nomads game resulted in a win for the locals. Dubbo met Wellington on three occasions for two wins and a defeat. Against Burrell Creek, Dubbo proved too skilled recording two relatively easy successes. The two matches against Narromine resulted in a win for Dubbo and a draw. In all, Dubbo representative players side gained confidence from a highly successful season.
The Dubbo v Nomads game, the first semi-official encounter for 1899 was a highly symbolic occasion, although the contestants involved would have been totally oblivious to its character and importance. The game was played at the Dubbo Oval on Saturday, 22 June 1899. It was the first match in which the newly formed Dubbo Rugby Club played. It displayed several features which highlighted the simple nature of the contests and the strong influence that amateur standards exerted on the code. The Nomads were furthermore, an example of an arrangement which had seen its best days. Scratch rugby teams gradually found that compliance of clubs such as Dubbo, Wellington, Narromine, Orange with the stringencies of planned, organised programmes lessened the opportunities of Nomad-type teams to gain opponents.
In any case, that the Nomads and Dubbo teams fought out the first important game in 1899 was a happy if chance encounter. The player composition of both teams was intriguing. Dubbo`s men were: back, Allan;three-quarters, Cronin, Taylor, Brown; five-eighth, J. Hives, Howie; half, Tourle; wings, Murray, Alf Wheeler; forwards, King, Rich, Gardiner, Wooding, Art Wheeler, Elliott.
Most of these players were Dubbo town residents who were much influenced by small rural service town ideas and standards. Alf and Art Wheeler and T. H. Tourle were exceptions. The Wheelers who were to play many games for Dubbo were the sons of farmers. Their forebears had settled in Dubbo after government closer settlement policies between 1861 and 1884 and economic downturns in the 1880s began the break-up of many large pastoral holdings and the exodus from the land of their grazier occupiers. T. H. Tourle was something of an oddity in the Dubbo team, he was of grazier stock.
The Nomads were a markedly different team of men. They were: back, Suttor; three-quarters, T. Baird, E. Ryrie, Wilkins; five-eighth, F. Body; half, E. Body; forwards, H. Baird, A. Ryrie, A. Baird, Brownlow, D. Baird, W. Mack, Lane, H. Mack, Webb. F. Body captained the visitors and J. Hives the local team.
The names of the Nomads would all feature prominently in any chronicle of the squatter-pastoralist pioneers of the Dubbo district.
Also noteworthy was the frequency of close relatives competing together. In this case there were the Wheelers, Bairds, Ryries, Macks, and Bodies. On later occasions, four Hives brothers and numerous Brownlows made the burden of player recruitment a trifle easier for club administrators. Rural families were considerably larger in those days and the opportunities for individuals to engage in recreation more limited. Rugby soon asserted its appeal becoming a major winter sport in Dubbo.
The match was a classic engagement between town and country with, on this occasion, the townies winning by 16 points to nil. The pioneer referee, Thomas Kidston, then termed the central umpire, controlled the game.
