Going into the 1913 season the Newtown side from Sydney’s inner suburbs had been boosted by the inclusion of one James Masters to its ranks. By the end of the season six of its players would have played in the drawn interstate series between NSW and Queensland. Alongside Masters at inside-left for Newtown, and right behind him at left-half for NSW, stood Ernie Bywater. Bywater would be joined by Masters on a very different front line just two years later.
Born in Stockport on the southern fringes of greater Manchester, Ernie found his way to the playing fields of Sydney, probably via Cape Town where his brother, listed as his next of kin on his enlistment form, resided. Linking up with Newtown as early as 1909, Bywater enlisted in January of 1915 and was assigned to the 13th Battalion 4th Reinforcements.
Ernie left behind his life as a moulder on March 17 aboard the HMAT Shropshire and was then attached to the Light Railway Company whose job was to establish railway lines to the front for the transportation of men and munitions. Wounded in August of 1917 and invalided to hospital in England, he subsequently suffered a sprained knee and was invalided back to England – which may have been the injury that finished his representative career.
Bywater continued to support the game when he moved into the St. George area with a fledgling association which would in time prove to be one of the strengths of the game in Sydney.