Alby Why

Playing Career
Coaching Career

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Full Name: Albert Why
Born: Wednesday, 2nd August, 1899
Died: Monday, 29th December, 1969 (Aged 70 years and 149 days)
Place Of Birth: Brewarrina, New South Wales, Australia

Honours & Awards

Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.

NSWRFL Premiership (NRL): 1925, 1926, 1927
City Cup: 1924, 1925

Known Family Links

Brother: Jack Why

Biography

Former Newtown centre who was equally at home in the forwards also played in Souths’ wins against University and St George in the 1926-27 finals. Carr played for Huddersfield in England with team-mate Sid Harris the following year but suffered an injury early in his English career. He refused to have a knee operation and secretly returned to Australia by boat to the relative obscurity of player-coach in country NSW.

- ALAN WHITICKER

Additional Notes

Alby Why played under the name Albert Carr / Alby Carr for most of his career after agreeing to play under the name in a third grade game with Mascot in 1921.

He made first grade under the name and decided to keep it. He then went to England and played his career there under the assumed name.

It wasn't until he returned home and he wanted to play under his actual name that the whole story came out.

Playing Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.

Representative Career - Australia		Comp Wins	App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Tour Matches	New South Wales Firsts	-	5	2	-		-	6	2	3	0	40.00%	List
Tour Matches	New South Wales XIII	-	1	-	-		-	-	0	0	1	0.00%	List
Interstate Series		-	1	-	-		-	-	0	1	0	0.00%	List
Country Carnival		-	3	2	-		-	6	3	0	0	100.00%	List
Club Career - Australia		Comp Wins	App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL)		3	71	27	-		-	81	58	12	1	81.69%	List
NSWRFL Finals		-	6	1	-		-	3	4	2	0	66.67%	List
City Cup		2	11	6	-		-	18	6	3	2	54.55%	List
Overall			App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
First Class			84	33	-		-	99	70	21	4	83.33%	List
Australia - By Team
Team	Years		App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
NSW Firsts	1924-25		5	2	-		-	6	2	3	0	40.00%	List
Possibles (AU)	1925		1	-	-		-	-	1	0	0	100.00%	List
Metropolis	1926-27		2	2	-		-	6	2	0	0	100.00%	List
NSW XII	1927		1	-	-		-	-	0	0	1	0.00%	List
Metropolis Seconds	1927		1	-	-		-	-	1	0	0	100.00%	List
Overall	1924-1927		10	4	0		0	12	6	3	1	60.00%	List
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Year
Team	Season		App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Newtown	NSWRFL 1922		10	3	-		-	9	4	5	1	40.00%	List
South Sydney	NSWRFL 1924		5	1	-		-	3	4	1	0	80.00%	List
South Sydney	NSWRFL 1925		11	3	-		-	9	11	0	0	100.00%	List
South Sydney	NSWRFL 1926		18	7	-		-	21	16	2	0	88.89%	List
South Sydney	NSWRFL 1927		17	8	-		-	24	15	2	0	88.24%	List
South Sydney	NSWRFL 1930		10	5	-		-	15	8	2	0	80.00%	List
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Team
Team	Years		App	T	G	GK %	FG	Pts	W	L	D	Win %
Newtown	1922		10	3	-		-	9	4	5	1	40.00%	List
South Sydney	1924-27, 1930		61	24	-		-	72	54	7	0	88.52%	List
Overall	1922-1930		71	27	0		0	81	58	12	1	81.69%	List

Your Say

Victor Eke
31/05/2024

My grandfather (Roy Carr) brother was Albert Carr. His friend was Albert Why. Albert Why didn't have enough money to pay for registration to play and Albert Carr said don't worry play under my name (registration).
Angela Why
10/02/2026

Alby Why (Carr) was my great grandfather and was an indigenous man. We think that may be a reason for the name change too. There was a lot of prejudice around back then.

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Contributions: Rugby League Tables, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Alan Katzmann, Shawn Dollin, Tony McCarron, Max Turner, Tim Costello