| Jim Hale | |||||
| Fullname: | James Alfred Hale | ||||
| Birth Date: | 10 July 1916 | ||||
| Birth Place: | Kogarah, New South Wales, Australia | ||||
| Death Place: | Sylvania, New South Wales, Australia | ||||
| Retired: | yes | ||||
| Club1: | South Sydney | ||||
| Year1start: | 1940 | ||||
| Appearances1: | 3 | ||||
| Tries1: | 1 | ||||
| Goals1: | 0 | ||||
| Fieldgoals1: | 0 | ||||
| Points1: | 3 | ||||
| Club2: | St. George | ||||
| Year2start: | 1941 | ||||
| Year2end: | 47 | ||||
| Appearances2: | 60 | ||||
| Tries2: | 20 | ||||
| Goals2: | 0 | ||||
| Fieldgoals2: | 0 | ||||
| Points2: | 60 | ||||
| Club3: | Boorowa Rovers | ||||
| Year3start: | 1948 | ||||
| Year3end: | 49 | ||||
| Module: |
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James Alfred Hale (10 July 1916 - 28 December 1992) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s.
Hale was graded with the South Sydney club in 1940 and switched mid-season to join St. George with whom he played seven seasons between 1941 and 1947.
He is remembered as the second-row forward in the St George side that was defeated in the 1946 Grand Final by Balmain. At the end of the game, Jim Hale and his ex team-mate Herb Gilbert, Jr. were involved in a brawl when a spectator jumped onto the Sydney Cricket Ground playing area and punched Hale. The incident almost caused a riot amongst rival players and fans and resulted in a number of arrests by police.
Hale, like his father Percy (1887-1953), was an amateur heavy-weight boxer, and the brawl between him and Gilbert was a huge talking point in the Sydney press for days afterward. A brother, Bill Hale also played for St. George[1]
After retiring from Sydney first grade football, Hale captain coached the Boorowa Rovers Rugby League Club in 1948–1949.[2]
Hale died on 28 December 1992, aged 76.[3]