Sydney After starring as a schoolboy and playing his junior football with Guildford in western Sydney, Vic Hey was graded with the
Western Suburbs Magpies in 1933. In a spectacular rookie season he cemented a first grade club spot and made both his state and national representative débuts. Hey was a late selection for the
1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain replacing
Ernie Norman who had failed a fitness test. On that tour he played in 23 tour matches and in all three Test matches of the
Ashes series against England, partnering his Western Suburbs teammate Les Mead in the halves. On the tour he scored fourteen tries. In his second
NSWRL season 1934, Hey was a member of Wests' premiership winning side. In September 2004 Hey was named at five-eighth in the Western Suburbs Magpies team of the century.
Queensland Moving to Queensland in 1936, Vic Hey briefly played a season for Toowoomba before moving to Ipswich. While living in Toowoomba and playing for Ipswich in 1936 Hey represented
Queensland in all three matches of that year's interstate representative series. In 1936, from Queensland he was again selected for all three Test matches of the domestic
Ashes series against England. Despite formal protests from the
Queensland Rugby League, he was paid 1,400 pounds sterling to sign on with English club
Leeds, at the time a higher amount than the rugby league world record transfer fee.
England At the end of the Australian 1936 season Hey left for Britain to play club football for
Leeds, making his début against
Hunslet on Saturday 21 August 1937. He was paid a then record signing fee of £1,400 (based on increases in average earnings, this would be approximately £218,100 in 2013). Vic Hey played in
Leeds' 14–8 victory over
Huddersfield in the
1937–38 Yorkshire Cup Final during the
1937–38 season at
Belle Vue,
Wakefield on Saturday 30 October 1937, and played in the 2–8 defeat by
Hunslet in the
Championship Final during the
1937–38 season at
Elland Road,
Leeds on Saturday 30 April 1938, played at in the 19–2 victory over
Halifax in the
1940–41 Challenge Cup Final during the
1940–41 season at
Odsal Stadium,
Bradford, in front of a crowd of 28,500, and played at in the 15–10 victory over Halifax in the
1941–42 Challenge Cup Final during the
1941–42 season at
Odsal Stadium,
Bradford, in front of a crowd of 15,250. Hey played in the 1938 Christmas Eve fixture between Leeds and Salford at
Headingley Stadium. Headingley’s rugby pitch was frozen solid, but the cricket ground wasn’t so the goal posts were moved and 12,000 fans saw the Leeds win 5-0. Hey became the only player to score a try on Headingley’s cricket field. Hey was
player-coach at
Dewsbury from 1944 to 1947, before playing nine times for
Hunslet after his ship back to Australia was delayed. Vic Hey played in
Dewsbury's 14-25 aggregate defeat by
Wigan in the
Championship Final during the
1943–44 season; the 9-13 first-leg defeat at
Central Park,
Wigan on Saturday 13 May 1944, and the 5-12 second-leg defeat at
Crown Flatt,
Dewsbury on Saturday 20 May 1944.
Return to Sydney Vic Hey signed for Parramatta in 1948 in that club's second season in the top grade. He was appointed as the club's captain-coach. He played two seasons 1948 and 1949 before retiring from first grade rugby league at age 37. Following his retirement, Hey wrote rugby league's first memoir: ''A Man's Game'' which was released in 1950. ==Coaching career==