History of the Astley Cup uncovered by Orange's Lynne Middleton

Lynne Middleton - who spent 20 years organising the event while working as a teacher Orange High School - was on deck to give the current cohort of students a history lesson during their recent pep rally on June 7.

She told of how a New Zealand-born man, Joseph Laurence Astley, who moved to Dubbo with his wife Ethal Parker of Molong, headed up the creation of the tournament between OHS, Bathurst High School and Dubbo College.

"He was a great believer in the value of sport and in particular, athletics," Mrs Middleton said.

In 1923, Mr Astley was "asked to perform his civic duty" by donating a trophy for a competition between Dubbo High School and Sacred Heart College in Dubbo.

"But Dubbo High had so many more enrolments than the college that it ended up being a very one-sided affair and a bit of a failure," Mrs Middleton added.

It was decided that it would not continue.

With the trophy engraved with the words 'play the game', a new sporting venture was sought to give it new life.

Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo high schools had met on and off since 1917 and after some consultation with the respective principals, it was decided that in 1923, the Astley Cup would commence.

After its inaugural year, it was put on hold for 1924, before it made its triumphant return in 1925. On this occasion, the tournament even had its very own constitution which laid out all the rules.

"It's like the British Empire," Mrs Middleton added.

It wasn't until 1930 that Orange High would win its first Astley Cup.

"Can you imagine the excitement and the honour and the pride of winning that for the first time. It would have been pretty marvellous," Mrs Middleton said.

The very next year though, the event was cancelled due to the Great Depression and it was off again in 1940 because of World War II. The most recent cancellation came in 2020 due to Covid.

The sports and the way they have run have changed drastically over the years.

Athletics has always been played in the Astley Cup, however, even in 1944 there was a big disparity in the events boys and girls competed in.

For the boys, they took part in the 100 yards, 220 yards, the mile, 4x100 relay, high jump and the hop, step and jump (triple jump).

The girls only participated in the 75 yards and a 4x100 yards relay.

"It's certainly changed today where the only difference is the boys run the 1500 metre and the 800 metre when it comes to athletics," Mrs Middleton said proudly.

In 1950 the two mixed sports were played - being tennis and athletics - but the girls had netball and hockey to call their own.

With the boys' only standalone sport being rugby league, it meant the girls outnumbered their male counterparts in the team games.

Other sports have come and gone over the years, such as softball which OHS dominated during its 20 year run from 1985 to 2005. During this period, OHS won the Astley Cup 16 times, including 12 straight which remains a record to this day.

But during that dominating '90s period, controversy arose.

"In 1994 we were accused of cheating in athletics, for an incorrect transition in the relay," Mrs Middleton said.

"That was an easy fix, we just didn't allocate points for the relay."

But in the same tie, OHS was once again accused of cheating, this time by giving its girls a lighter weight in the shot put event.

"All the shots were in a common pool and the Dubbo girls could have picked up those ones as well," Mrs Middleton added.

War cries and mascots have come and gone. The current cohort of the latter comprises of the bumblebee and a personal favourite of Mrs Middleton, a hornet.

The scoring system also underwent a revamp in the 1960s where it was changed from one win equalling one point, to the current way which sees game scores tallied up and given a value out of 100. This means that even if a team loses, they have every opportunity to put points on the board.

"That's why you'll see sports organisers busily looking at their phones, trying to figure out the score," Mrs Middleton said.

With the 100^th anniversary event due to begin on June 15 in Orange, it's anyone's guess who will take home the trophy in the showcase year.

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