Cricketer, Bill O’Reilly and the Lion Tile Co.

 

Have you been watching the Ashes? What a result!

Cricketing fans may be interested in the fact that one of Australia’s greatest spin bowlers, Bill ‘Tiger’ O’Reilly had a long-term connection with the Enfield district. O’Reilly played for Australia during the Bradman years of the 1930s and 1940s, including the infamous Bodyline series. He also spent 35 years working for the Lion Tile Co. on Liverpool Road, Enfield, now Strathfield South.

Born in the NSW opal-mining town of White Cliffs in 1905, William Joseph O’Reilly was largely a self-taught cricketer. His father, Ernest was a teacher and the family moved often, later settling in Wingello in the Southern Highlands. It was in Bowral that Bill first met 17-year-old Bradman.

 

Sweetacres Champion Chewing Gum collector’s card, c.1938. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies

It was late 1925. Then studying in Sydney, Bill was on the train heading back to Wingello one weekend. When the train stopped at Bowral, he heard his name being called by someone running along the platform. The Wingello team needed him for the cricket match then in progress against Bowral. Bradman was victorious that day but when the match continued the following weekend, Bradman was quickly despatched by O’Reilly.

‘Bradman scored 234 runs in the first innings. O’Reilly bowled him for a duck in the second.’[1]

Following in his father’s footsteps, Bill took up teaching. He was posted to several country towns before settling in the St George area. Given the nickname ‘Tiger’ for his aggressive bowling action, he was selected to play for NSW in 1927/28 and for Australia in the Test matches of 1931/32. A tall man of 6ft 2 or 3 inches, his bowling style was unique and, for batsmen, unpredictable. He was gangly, all flailing arms and legs, as he delivered leg spinners, leg breaks, and googlies. Although not a fast bowler, he was always intimidating. Unusually, he bowled with his right hand – but batted left-handed.

Bill O’Reilly c.1934. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies

O’Reilly played 27 Test matches, taking 144 wickets.[2] You can read more about his career at: https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/oreilly-william-joseph-bill-16316/text28267 and https://sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame-member/bill-oreilly/

You can also watch Bill in action at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygkVoIvq8qg

Bill O’Reilly batting in England, 1934. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies

Cigarette card, 1938. Courtesy Strathfield Local Studies

O’Reilly taught English, History, Geography and Business at Kogarah Intermediate High School from late 1930 and joined the St George Cricket Club. In early 1935 he accepted a position with Sydney Grammar School, adding sports coaching to his duties. The school allowed him to play major games and go on tour on half pay.[3] But O’Reilly found juggling teaching with his cricketing career challenging so he resigned from the school shortly before the war. He briefly worked in a sportsgoods store in the city, in partnership with fellow cricketer Stan McCabe, but when war was declared it became obvious that the business could not support both of them so Bill stepped down.

He soon accepted a position as secretary for the Lion Tile Co. in Enfield, responsible for the firm’s financial affairs. At its peak, the firm employed more than 200 workers and O’Reilly stayed for 35 years. Later also a sports journalist, Lion Tile Co. gave him paid time off to travel overseas for six months at a time to play or report on the cricket season.

Lion Tile Co. 1937. Courtesy Royal Australian Historical Society

The Lion Tile Co. was a local landmark on Liverpool Road at Enfield. It even boasted electric lighting at night during the 1930s in  an area that was then still sparsely settled. This 1937 photo shows the scale of the business on the corner of Liverpool Road and Gould Street. Cosgrove Road is also clearly visible.

The Construction and Real Estate Journal of 28 June 1933 noted that ‘the management has woven their product LION TILES in black lettering into the fabric of the red roof, which can be seen for many miles and from all directions, to act as a silent salesman by day … It has a beautiful garden with grass lawns upon which are statues of lions symbolising the name of the establishment, whilst a number of miniature roofs display the variety and quality of the firm’s products.

A neatly designed iron gate hung to concrete posts opens up the wide concrete driveway which leads through a latticed pergola, over which trails banana passion fruit, onto the works proper. There 400 roses, 600 gerberas, to act as silent salesmen, thus giving 1,000 reasons why one should purchase tiles from a firm imbued with civic pride. It is a natural corollary to assume from such a presentation that this firm’s reputation stands for something and that good service would be assured.’[4]

Many locals recall the stone lions, later painted each football season in a different team’s colours, overlooking Liverpool Road.[5]

Lion Tile Co. by Sam Hood, 1930s. Courtesy State Library of NSW

At Lion Tiles, Bill organised the books and paid the wages. With no safe on site, he regularly took money home at night. During the construction restrictions of WWII, permits were required for the supply of all materials and Bill’s workload was great.[6]

Lion Tile Co. 1946. Courtesy NSW State Archives

He continued to play club cricket with St George during the war. In 1946 he played in Australia’s first Test Match with New Zealand, aged 40 and with a dodgy knee. After the final game Bill returned to the dressing room and threw his boots out of the window, symbolising his retirement from both Test Match and first class cricket. There was consternation in the cricket world at this news although Bill soon accepted an offer from the Sydney Morning Herald to cover the 1946/47 Ashes tour. Before that however, colourful financier, bookmaker and keen sportsman, Mr John Wren[7] wrote to O’Reilly at the Lion Tile Co., appealing for him to cancel his contract to report on the forthcoming Test matches for a London newspaper so that he could play for Australia instead. He offered to compensate him for any financial loss he may incur from cancelling his journalism commitments.[8]

The Herald (Melbourne) 20 August 1946 p.1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245550956

Wren’s generous offer was declined because Bill was not physically fit enough to play. Instead O’Reilly reported on the matches, providing his ‘copy’ over the phone to a hard-working Herald typist. He later visited England with the 1948, 1953 and 1956 teams and his journalism career with the Herald lasted 42 years.[9]

On 5 February 1949 a major fire broke out at the Lion Tile Co., destroying most of the electrical equipment needed to manufacture tiles and bricks. Interviewed the following day, O’Reilly said that the loss would amount to 80,000 bricks each week along with enough tiles to roof 40 houses.[10] This was devastating for Sydney and the state as post-war construction was finally beginning to recover amid a housing crisis. At that time, the company was the second largest tile business in the Commonwealth.

In later years Bill wrote several books about cricket, especially the Ashes tours. He deplored one day cricket and sledging. In 1980 he received an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Today, Bill O’Reilly Ovals stand in both White Cliffs and Wingello, NSW, while the Bill O’Reilly Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground was renamed in his honour in 1988. In that year too, the Sydney Morning Herald and the NSW Cricket Association renamed the Herald’s cricket award the ‘O’Reilly Medal’ as a tribute to both his playing and reporting careers. He was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame during 1986.

Bill died in 1992, living long enough to see a young Shane Warne make his Test debut against India in Sydney in 1991/92.

After Bill’s death Don Bradman described him as the greatest bowler he had ever faced or watched. Sport Australia’s Hall of Fame declares him ‘probably the greatest spin bowler the game has ever produced.’[11]

The Lion Tile Co. site was offered for auction during August 1990. McDonalds now stands on this site.

Enjoy the cricket.

 

By J.J. MacRitchie

Local Studies Advisor

 

References

[1] Sydney Morning Herald 4 December 1945 p.6 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27923324

 

[2] Bill O’Reilly | Sport Australia Hall of Fame https://sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame-member/bill-oreilly/

 

[3] Daily Standard (Brisbane) 15 February 1935 p.6 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/186171397

 

[4] Construction and Real Estate Journal 28 June 1933 p.12 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222911658

 

[5] Goodger, B. ‘Cricket and Tiger O’Reilly’ Kogarah Historical Society Newsletter May-June 2009 http://kogarah.historicalsociety.com.au/wp-content/uploads/KHS-2009-05-06.pdf

 

[6] McHarg, Jack ‘Bill O’Reilly: a cricketing life, the authorised biography.’ Newtown: Millennium Books, 1990 p.180

 

[7] James Griffin, ‘Wren, John (1871–1953)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/wren-john-9198/text16247

 

[8] The Herald (Melbourne) 20 August 1946 p.1 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/245550956

 

[9] McHarg, Jack ‘Bill O’Reilly: a cricketing life, the authorised biography.’ Newtown: Millennium Books, 1990 p.178

 

[10] The Sunday Herald 6 February 1949 p.3 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/18464000

 

[11] Bill O’Reilly | Sport Australia Hall of Fame (sahof.org.au) https://sahof.org.au/hall-of-fame-member/bill-oreilly/

 

[12] The Australian Jewish News 13 July 1990 p.2 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/261685336