Exterior of Bill McConnell's Athletic Club at 83 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale, on the corner with Myrtle Street, 1940 (City of Sydney Archives, A-00054483, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/676027)
Author: Professor John Maynard
Bill McConnell’s gym was originally in Newtown, but moved to 83 Abercrombie Street, Chippendale in 1934. After the gym was destroyed by a fire in 1955, McConnell opened another gym nearby at a council-owned property at 62–64 Pine Street, mainly targeting young amateur fighters.[1]
McConnell was born at Paddington in 1906.[2] At the age of four, the family moved to Chippendale where Bill McConnell remained for the rest of his life. McConnell took up boxing to help pay the bills. He fought as a promising flyweight and bantamweight before he was unfairly matched with Bobby Delaney who was over six kilograms heavier. McConnell was knocked out in the fifth round and was so severely beaten that he was off work for three months.[3] McConnell gave fighting away and found his calling when he took over Yank Pearl’s Newtown gymnasium in 1928 to train others.[4] After his second gym on Abercrombie Street burnt down in 1955, McConnell was faced with serious financial difficulties.
‘Silent’ Bill McConnell is best remembered for his legendary differences with fierce rival gym operator Ern McQuillan and for training world champion bantamweight Jimmy Carruthers.[5] Both McQuillan and McConnell were from Irish working-class backgrounds and tough upbringings. World champion Jimmy Carruthers retired after only three title defences and took up the license of The Bells Hotel at Woolloomooloo, having earnt more than £60,000.[6] McConnell would never find another champion like Carruthers. McConnell suffered a heart attack in 1968 and died two years later.[7]
Keith Saunders was one of the Aboriginal fighters that trained out of McConnell’s gym, along with Teddy ‘Rainbow’ McGuinness. Keith recalled getting into a scuffle with three other teenagers during the 1940s, on the corner of Myrtle and Abercrombie streets in Chippendale, right across the road from McConnell’s gym. As it happened, McConnell had watched the whole episode from the upstairs window of the gym. He came over and said to Keith:
I have been watching you and I think you have a lot of natural ability to make something of yourself. Do you think you would be interested in learning to box properly?
Keith went on to win 12 of 38 fights and would later write two popular books about his life in boxing.[8]
About the author
Worimi man Professor John Maynard is a leading historian based with the Purai Global Indigenous History Centre at the University of Newcastle.
References
[1] ‘Ron Casey’s Sport Flashes’, Northern Star, 2 September 1955, p. 12, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article96528290; 62–64 Pine St. Premises owned by Council. Use of 1st floor as gymnasium. William McConnell. Licence, 1955 -1970, [A-000450851]. City of Sydney Archives, https://archives.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/nodes/view/987473.
[2] Peter Corris, ‘McConnell, William (Bill) (1906–1970)’, Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/mcconnell-william-bill-10919/text19397, published first in hardcopy 2000, accessed online 17 July 2020.
[3] Corris, Peter 1980, Lords of the Ring: Prize fighting in Australia, Cassell, Sydney, pp. 131–132.
[4] Corris, Peter 1980, Lords of the Ring: Prize fighting in Australia, Cassell, Sydney, p. 132; ‘Boxing News Notes and Notions’, Sydney Sportsman, 4 December 1928, p. 11, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166769690.
[5] Kieza, Grantlee 1990 Australian Boxing: The Illustrated History, Gary Allen, Smithfield NSW, p. 159.
[6] Kieza, Grantlee 1990 Australian Boxing: The Illustrated History, Gary Allen, Smithfield NSW, p. 159.
[7] Kieza, Grantlee 2015, Boxing in Australia, National Library of Australia, Canberra, p. 86.
[8] Saunders, Keith 1992, Learning the Ropes, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, pp. 40–41; ‘Street Fight Led to Fistic Career’, The Courier-Mail, 12 March 1954, 14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50575663; ‘True colours: In and out of the boxing ring, Teddy “Rainbow” McGuinness inspired all’, Cowra Guardian, 15 July 2015, https://web.archive.org/web/20230217064847/https://www.cowraguardian.com.au/story/3209964/true-colours-in-and-out-of-the-boxing-ring-teddy-rainbow-mcguinness-inspired-all.
