When Les Darcy was a babysitter

When I was researching the history of the old Sydney Stadium, I was introduced to a lady named Cathy. Cathy's father had been a well known senior government official and advisor, who used to put on benefits at the Stadium.

She told me how Les Darcy and fellow boxer Les O’Donnell, would sometimes be enlisted to nurse her.

Les O’Donnell was a regular fighter at the stadium, and she described how he became ill and his spine shrank making him shorter than the six footer she remembered.

Sydney Morning Herald. July 1931 Click to enlarge

The early days of boxing at the old Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay, is a project I first started working on in 1994! This blog will evolve slowly, and articles will be added in no particular order - I like tothink of it as rummaging through old cardboard boxes in an antique shop, never knowing whay you may find.

Although much has been written about Sydney Stadium, a large proportion of the 1,000 plus pages of handwritten notes, (only pencil was allowed in the Manuscript room at the State Library!) and photocopies of old articles and recollections, are from long defunct newspapers and boxing devotees sadly no longer with us.

Perhaps my opening sentence is a bit misleading. My original idea was - and still is - not to focus on the actual fights, but rather the numerous wonderful and colorful characters involved. It is about people rather than actual blow by blow descriptions - about times gone by and the impact, "The Old Tin Shed" had on Sydney's social, corporate and political life.

Here you will read about people you probably not have heard of before - but they all had lives and often wonderful tales to tell. There is sadness, triumph and inspiration.

Boxing fans will probably already know a lot about the boxers and the stadium , but I think I can honestly say, there will also be much that is new to them.

Nor will I focus entirely on Australian boxers. Overseas boxers such as the Prince Lochinvar of boxing, Jimmy Clabby and many other American, French and British boxers, played a vital role in the history of a stadium that until 1970, was an integral part of Sydney and its people.

Mike Hitchen

The Old Tin Shed - Sydney Stadium

When Les Darcy was a babysitter

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