Rugby League’s first superstar, Dally Messenger, turns 125 tomorrow as the game he helped create prepares to celebrate 100 years since its first matches in Australia.

The Harvey Norman Heritage Round kicks off next Friday, April 18, with players to don traditional jerseys and fans to receive special souvenir team posters as Rugby League marks 100 years to the day since the first matches were played at Sydney’s Birchgrove Oval and Wentworth Park.

It’s a celebration that will include the naming of Australian Rugby League’s Team of the Century on Thursday, April 17, with Herbert Henry Messenger - affectionately known as ‘Dally’ - among the game’s ‘100 Greatest’ players in contention for the side.

Messenger transformed the Australian sporting landscape after switching from rugby union to join Rugby League. His involvement was primarily responsible for ensuring the early popularity and financial success of Australia’s first professional code.

Such was Messenger’s star status, he not only played Rugby League for NSW and Australia but was a ‘guest’ player for Queensland and New Zealand and the drawcard for the first ever game in Newcastle.

Following standout performances during the 1908 Kangaroos tour, five English and Scottish soccer clubs tried to sign him, each offering Messenger  £1,500 for just one season.

“I often wondered could a footballer truly be as good as the myths, stories and legends made out,” said Sean Fagan, one of the code's leading historians and co-author of The Master - The Life and Times of Dally Messenger.

“After I'd poured through the newspaper reports and personal accounts made by those who witnessed Messenger in action, my doubts were forever dispelled.

“As one fan put it succinctly, ‘It was a case of Messenger first, middle and last’.”