The surname ‘Giltinan’ is most easily recognised as the name of the shield presented to the Minor Premiers of the NRL Competition.
From 1951 until 1996, the handsome JJ Giltinan Shield was won by the 1st Grade team that won the Grand Final.
Since 1997, the Shield has been awarded to the NRL 1st Grade side that wins the Minor Premiership.
In 2022, that side was the Penrith Panthers and the Shield was presented on 26 August after the Minor Premiership was concluded. Penrith also won the Grand Final on 2 October when they were presented with the ‘Provan-Summons Trophy.’
But who was JJ Giltinan?
James Joseph Giltinan (1866-1950) was the eldest of five sons.
On the night of 8 August 1907, at Bateman’s Hotel in George Street Sydney, JJ Giltinan was elected Secretary of the newly formed NSWRFL which had broken away from Rugby Football in NSW. Victor Trumper was elected Treasurer.
Giltinan then invited the New Zealand ‘All Golds’ Rugby League team to tour Australia on their way to Great Britain in 1907. Then, after the first Rugby League premiership season in 1908, Giltinan led the first ‘Kangaroos’ Rugby League tour of Great Britain.
He was Honorary Secretary of the NSWRFL from 1909 until just before his death in 1950. The ‘JJ Giltinan Shield’ was instituted in 1951 in memory of one of the founders of the game.
Just a month or so after the first Rugby League season had concluded with South Sydney as Premiers, the 1908-09 Sydney Grade Cricket season began. Playing for Sydney University’s 2nd Grade side was Richard Giltinan (1881-1948), JJ’s youngest brother who was studying Arts at Sydney University as an evening student, preparatory to taking up a position as a secondary school teacher. He had previously played three seasons for Leichhardt and had batted steadily in 3rd Grade before promotion to 2nd Grade. His last innings of significance was his 46 against University in 2nd Grade in 1907-08.
For his new club, he scored 14 in his first game against Balmain but that was to be easily his highest score for the Club in 2nd Grade. Two more games produced 5,0, and 2. His bowling was used sparingly and he took no wickets. Inevitably, he was dropped to 3rd Grade where he made some moderate scores before reclaiming his 2nd Grade spot for a late-season game against Paddington. He failed to score in both innings.
He had played his last game for SUCC.
He was appointed to schools in Lismore and Grafton before becoming Headmaster of Wagga High School from 1926 until 1936. He died in Wagga in 1948.
Before that, JJ Giltinan appears to have played a few 3rd grade games for Burwood in 1908-09.
He may not have been much of a cricketer but he was a 1st class umpire.
In the 1903-04 season, the MCC side under Pelham Warner, was touring Australia. When they played NSW at the SCG from 12th to 15th February 1904, the appointed umpires were William Gregory Curran and James Joseph Giltinan. Curran was significantly experienced and he was to umpire two Tests some seasons later. Giltinan, however, was umpiring his first 1st class game. And his last.
The NSWCA attempted to appoint JJ Giltinan to umpire the 4th Test starting in Sydney on 26 February. There was an uproar. England’s RE Foster kept a tour diary which contained some strident opinions. On 23 February, he thundered:
Dispute over umpire for the Test. NSWCA appointed Giltinan. Quite the worst umpire we have met. Deadlock…We shan’t play unless they give way.
AE Knight sent regular reports on the tour to the Sheffield Daily Telegraph. His opinion on the appointment was relatively subdued:
On our return from Bathurst, we found the cricket atmosphere much disturbed by the umpire difficulty…Noble [the Australian captain] and Warner both agreed that Crockett and Argall were the two most satisfactory umpires for the Test Match but the NSWCA appointed one to whom Mr Warner strongly objected on the grounds of inexperience and lack of the necessary ability.
In the event, the NSWCA backed down. The Test went ahead as scheduled. Philip Argall and Bob Crockett were the appointed umpires. Giltinan umpired no more at this level.
JJ Giltinan had his administration of Rugby League from the founding days and his later interest in Sailing to soften any wounds he felt from what the English players thought of him.
And, he has a Shield named after him.
RP Giltinan had his profession as a schoolmaster to attend to after his moderate returns when he played just a few games of cricket with SUCC.
James Rodgers