1 review for Rodgers, Pat and Peter Lloyd – Bert Folkard The Pride of Callan Park

1. 

   Ken – August 18, 2025

   Here is a review by Ric Sissons:

   Bert Folkard played only 15 first-class matches for NSW

   between 1910 and 1921. He averaged 13.33 with the bat

   (highest score 61) and 26.97 with the ball (45 wickets, best 7

   for 65). He never represented Australia.

   Not the most propitious record for a biography you might

   think. You would be wrong. This is a fascinating account of a

   working-class cricketer, employed as an attendant in a

   mental hospital, who dominated at club level but who never

   quite succeeded in the first-class game.

   If you look at the 1911 Wills set of ‘Australian and English

   Cricketers’, B. J. Folkard sits alongside the likes of Trumper,

   Armstrong, Bardsley, Barnes, Hill, Hobbs, Fry and Woolley.

   Folkard is easy to spot. His handsome face is resplendent

   with a fine moustache – ‘pomade enhanced’ to quote the

   authors of this excellent biography.

   Bert was born in 1878, one of eight children. Initially he

   worked in a quarry but left to become an attendant at the

   new mental asylum at Callan Park in Sydney’s inner west.

   Built in the 1880s, the beautiful sandstone buildings remain

   and are now heritage-listed.

   Pat Rodgers and Peter Lloyd write that cricket was an

   ‘integral part of asylum life’ at Callan Park for the staff and

   the patients.The Park’s turf wicket gained the reputation as being one of

   the best in Sydney. In February 1897, Victor Trumper had

   made 105 (retired) for the Government Services’ Department

   against the Asylum’s eleven.

   Folkard began playing for Callan Park in 1899. In 1901-02 the

   Asylum side played 30 one day matches. Bowling medium

   pace inswingers, Folkard took 120 wickets at 5.20.

   Leichhardt-Balmain, the local first grade side, were keen to

   enlist Folkard and he made his debut at Leichhardt Oval in

   January 1903.

   As the authors explain Bert had to balance a demanding job,

   a young family and playing cricket for Callan Park and

   Leichhardt-Balmain.

   In November 1903, after only six first-grade appearances,

   Folkard was selected for the Next XIII against NSW.

   Wally Duff, the older brother of Test star Reggie, was also

   named in the XIII, but withdrew. The following year Wally

   was pronounced ‘insane’ and incarcerated at Callan Park.

   According to the authors, 1905-06 was the ‘most celebrated’

   in the history of the Callan Park XI thanks to the batting of

   Bert and Wally – the attendant and the inmate. The side was

   undefeated in 32 matches including against Sydney grade

   sides.In 1908-09 Balmain entered the Sydney grade competition

   and Folkard began a long association with the club. In his first

   match he hit 149 not out.

   The press was taking notice. The authors quote the Arrow

   which suggested Folkard is ‘good enough already’ to be

   chosen for the next tour of England. The Sydney Sportsman

   was more cautious, in grade cricket ‘he looks like a Triton

   among the minnows’, but when ‘tried in higher class contests

   he looked like some other fellow.’

   Folkard’s first-class debut came in 1910-11, when aged 32, he

   was selected for NSW against the touring South Africans and

   took 6 for 37 in the visitors’ second innings. After a wicket-

   less performance against South Australia, Folkard was left

   out of the State side for the rest of the season.

   The authors explain that Folkard’s working life restricted his

   ability to play first-class cricket. Not for Bert, the luxury of

   wealthy parents, or self-employment, or owning a shop. As

   an attendant in the Asylum he was expected to work 13

   hours a day, seven days a week, all for an annual salary of

   £120.

   Bert’s cousin William was one of the leaders of the Hospital

   and Asylum Attendants Union. A deal was negotiated with

   the government to cap the working week at 48 hours. The

   authors state that this was ‘illusory’ and did not happen. The

   book includes detailed material on asylums and mental

   health policy in NSW.Bert re-appeared for NSW in November 1911 but as the

   authors write, despite excelling for Balmain, he was in

   ‘constant danger of being dropped from the State XI’.

   In 1914, the Australian Board agreed to send a team to South

   Africa. Trumper, Hill and Ransford were among those who

   declared themselves unavailable. After Hazlitt was a late

   withdrawal, Folkard was given the nod. The Asylum agreed to

   Bert having leave without pay. For some leading players the

   Board’s offer of £200 plus £2 expenses was not an

   inducement, but for Folkard, earning £120 a year, it would

   have been more than satisfactory. It is not known what his

   wife thought given they had four children under 10.

   The War put an end to the tour and Folkard’s chance to

   represent Australia. Given his age, family and work, the

   authors write that ‘enlistment was not a consideration’.

   Folkard made one final first-class appearance in February

   1921 against MCC. No wickets, 9 and a first over duck,

   marked the end of his career.

   One of the fascinating aspects of this book is the partnership

   between Folkard and Wally Duff. Duff’s health records,

   included as an appendix, make sad and compelling reading.

   The authors write that Wally suffered ‘manic anxiety and

   extreme agitation … interspersed with interminable periods

   of sloth and lethargy.’But, Bert and Wally ‘shared a strong bond with cricket at its

   core’. Wally died in November 1921 at Callan Park after

   breaking his leg playing cricket.

   For Balmain, Folkard remains the only player to have scored

   5000 runs and taken 500 wickets. As a life member, Bert took

   on the role of mentoring the younger players. On 3 January

   1925, the 15-year-old, Archie Jackson made his debut for

   Balmain at Birchgrove Oval.

   Back at Callan Park, Folkard arranged the fixture list and

   prepared the wicket. The authors recount a match on 19

   January 1932 when Folkard’s XI, including Jack Fingleton and

   Arthur Mailey, played Bosward’s XI including Tommy

   Andrews, Don Bradman and Monty Noble.

   Despite it being a Tuesday, a crowd of 8000, watched

   Bradman hit 143 including one shot, hit out of the ground,

   over Balmain Road and through the windows of a nearby

   house. The owner refused to hand back the ball until she was

   paid for the damage.

   Bert died in 1937, aged 58. His wife had pre-deceased him in

   1928.

   The authors conclude that ‘Australian cricket lost a

   formidable figure … a force of nature.’ Folkard was ‘a man of

   great patience and modest disposition who cared for others

   in need’.This is an important book on the history of club cricket in

   Sydney before the First World War.

   Read in conjunction with Rodgers’ biography of Syd Emery,

   and the new information about Wally Duff, this book gives us

   an insight into the life of working-class cricketers on the

   fringes of the first-class game. All not quite making it in sport

   and life in the so-called golden age.