There are many legends who claim the late Kevin Yow Yeh would’ve achieved so much more. Arthur Beetson calls it “suspicious” and describes it pointedly as “just another Aboriginal death in custody.”
Yet, despite all the rumours and allegations, what happened on June 27th, 1975 at Mackay Jail will never be fully revealed; and, to be honest, that’s exactly how Jharal Yow Yeh wants it to be.
As his pop once said, “Don’t be angry because your uncle was as rough as nuts and it ruined him.”
When Kevin Yow Yeh moved to the Balmain Tigers at the beginning of the 1966 season, many predicted it to be the beginning of a wonderful career. A slick, fleet-footed winger, the great uncle of current Broncos winger Jharal had both the skill and natural ability to topple his opponents – as well as authorities.
“He used to play a little game every Saturday night with the coppers,” Beetson told the Daily Telegraph. “He’d drink god knows how many schooners in the pub then park himself at the police station. He would stand there, shoeless, abusing them, and then he would run. He was one of the quickest blokes I have ever seen. He could have footed it with Ken Irvine over 40m.”
Only 11 years after his first-grade debut for the Tigers, where he left after two seasons due to his inability to adapt to a city lifestyle, Yow Yeh’s body was found dead at Mackay Jail while in custody; he was only 34 years old.
While police attributed his passing to a heart attack, the black and blue bruises covering his body revealed otherwise.
The 26,301-strong crowd rose as one to celebrate yet another Kangaroos try. On a grandiose occasion which celebrated all that was great about the game of rugby league, one lesser-known story shone as brightly for the debutant as any other. Following a week of intense media focus on captain Darren Lockyer’s final game for Australia (at the time), Yow Yeh found time to think back.
About all the stories he had heard; the promises he had made; not to be the same as his great uncle was; not to waste his obvious talents.
In only his second season of first grade, the young winger had gone a long way towards fulfilling his pledge, after scoring a try in the Kangaroos’ 20-10 victory over the Kiwis. After accepting his jersey from Queensland legend Wally Lewis, he had surely cemented himself as a Queensland starter – not that he was thinking that far ahead.
Sure enough, on the 16th of May, Jharal Yow Yeh achieved a feat many, including Beetson, said Kevin had been unlucky not to, as he was named in the Queensland Maroons side for the opening State of Origin fixture.
If ever you wanted to know what déjà vu was like, one would just have to ask Yow Yeh, who scored tries on his club, national and interstate debuts.
After capitalising on a moment of indecisiveness by the Blues, Jharal Yow Yeh found himself Queensland’s no. 1 hero – if only for a few minutes.
After only two years in first grade, plus a season in the Toyota Cup U-20s competition, it appears Yow Yeh had taken aboard that advice given to him by his pop.
Rather than be angered by his great uncle’s mysterious demise, it seems the energetic Broncos flank has heeded the lessons from his great uncle Kevin’s mistakes. And while he can’t be seen on the weekends wearing the famous orange and black of the Tigers, he is, in many ways, giving us all a glimpse of what the late Kevin Yow Yeh could’ve achieved.
Should, would, and could, are three words Jharal Yow Yeh doesn’t want associated with his career.
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