Queensland Police had always had a good reputation for sporting prowess, as a natural consequence of remaining fit while carrying out operational duties. Tug of war was a popular choice of sport for the police officers from early last century right up to the modern day. In 1906 the Queensland Police tug of war team competed in the Ambulance Sports Carnival which raised money for the Ambulance service. Regional police teams also competed for trophies and the reputation for team strength. In 1992 the Queensland Police Women’s tug of war team travelled to Washington DC for the International Police Games and came away with the Gold Medal.
Police Tug of War team posing prior to competing in the Ambulance Sports of 1906. Standing L – R: Constable Patrick Davis, Constable William Maloney, Constable 1/c Thomas Roche, Constable Wilhelm Salm, Constable John Rockett, Constable George Marsden. Seated L – R: Inspector John White, Constable Patrick McGreevy, Constable Thomas Smith, Constable Henry O’Loughlin (Captain), Constable John O’Brien, Constable Thomas Hennessey, Sergeant John McNeill. Image PM0295a Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Innisfail Police Team. Tug of War Champions of North Queensland, 1926.
Standing L – R: Constables Albert Muller, Cecil Risch, Percival Buckley, Andrew McElrea, William Gavin, Acting-Sergeant. Richard Roach. Seated L – R: Sub-Inspector James Murtha, Constables Daniel Dwyer, Donald Ferguson, Acting-Sergeant. Peter Gaffney (Captain), Constables George Selby, William Weise, Sgt. James Tuohy. Master Jack Ferguson (Mascot). Image PM0815b Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Police Tug of War team, Brisbane, 1936.
L – R: Harry Gray (Coach), Henry Falkenhagen; Charlie Knust, Vince Cumming, Jack Hooper, Jim Carmody, Cecil Risch, Arthur Meng and Henry Von Hoff. Image PM2149 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Newspaper Clipping: Carnival to Aid Ambulance, The Courier-Mail, March 21, 1938, page 7.
Queensland Police Tug of War Team in action, Sydney, March 1938.
L – R: Andrew Vogel, Henry Von Hoff, John Cashel, James O’Mara, Vince Cumming, Charlie Knust, James McNamara, William Weise. Image PM2171 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
A successful Queensland Police Tug of War team, c.1940.
Standing L to R: James Carmody, Arthur Wing, J. Hooper, Vince Cumming, Henry Falkenhagen, James Howard, Andrew Meng. Front L to R: D. Campbell, Reginald Woodbury, A. Perrin, James Gray, Cecil Risch. Image PM2054 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
Queensland Police Service Women’s Tug of War team in action against the USA Florida police team at the International Police Games, in Washington D.C, August 1992. The QPS team won the gold medal in this event.
Image PM2899 Courtesy of the Queensland Police Museum.
_____________________________________________________
The information in this post was pulled together by Curator, Lisa Jones, from resources held in Police Museum collections. The Police Museum is open 9am to 4pm Monday to Thursday and 10am to 3pm on the last Sunday of the month (Feb-Nov) and is located on the Ground Floor of Police Headquarters at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane. Email: museum@police.qld.gov.au.
“FROM the VAULT – Police Tug-O-War Teams” by the Queensland Police Service is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (BY) 2.5 Australia Licence. Permissions may be available beyond the scope of this licence. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/legalcode