Billy Wilson
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | William A. Wilson | |
| Date of birth | 1927 | |
| Place of birth | Blakehurst, New South Wales, Australia | |
| Date of death | 1993 | |
| Place of death | Gympie, Queensland, Australia | |
| Nickname(s) | Bluey Captain Blood |
|
| Spouse(s) | Norma | |
| Senior clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1948–1949 1950 1951 1952–1956 1957 1958–1962 1963–1967 |
St. George Dragons Picton Barridine St. George Dragons Wagga St. George Dragons North Sydney Bears |
269 (191) n/a n/a n/a 65 (9) |
| Representative teams | ||
| 1959–1963 1959–1963 |
New South Wales Australia |
6 ( 0) 10 (0) |
| Professional clubs coached | ||
| 1967 | North Sydney Bears | |
|
* Professional club appearances and points |
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Billy Wilson (30 May 1927-25 March 1993) was an Australian rugby league player. He was a front-row forward with the St. George Dragons during their 11 year consecutive premiership winning run from 1956 to 1966. He was a representative in the Australian national team from 1959 to 1960 and in 1963 when he captained the side in two Tests against New Zealand.
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[edit] Club career
Born in Blakehurst, New South Wales Wilson was a St George Junior and was graded in 1947. He played 180 games for the Dragons in three periods 1948-1949, 1952-1956 and 1958-1962 and played in six winning Grand Finals.
He was graded by the Dragons in 1947 as a centre & lock forward and made his first grade debut in 1948. He had country stints as captain-coach firstly at Picton in 1950 and then at Barridine in north-western New South Wales in 1951. Returning to the Dragons as a second-rower in 1952, he developed his reputation as combatative and fiery enforcer and one of toughest forwards to ever play the game.
He played in the Dragons side that lost the 1953 Grand Final to South Sydney and then in consecutive St George premiership winning sides from 1956 to 1962 excluding 1957 when he spent a season in Wagga. He was the captain of the 1961 side that beat Wests in the Grand Final.
In the 1962 Grand Final Wilson was sent off early in the second-half after squaring things up from the kick-off with Wests' Jim Cody who had knocked out Dragons' captain Norm Provan five minutes before the break. With no replacements allowed in those days, St George were reduced to 11 men until Provan returned to the field well into the second half. The match was Billy Wilson's final game for St George. The Larry Writer reference suggests that the send-off may have soured Wilson's relationship with club officials in spite of the victory. Whether true or not, at 35 years of age the end of Wilson's playing career was looming from the club's perspective and his contract was not renewed.
Wilson finished his career with three seasons at North Sydney, retiring at age 39 in 1966. He was coach in 1967 and when the club suffered a number of injuries he returned to the playing field for three games in 1967 having already turned 40.
[edit] Representative career
Wilson made his state debut for New South Wales in 1959 aged 32 against a touring New Zealand side and then debuted for Australia in the first Test against that same side, going on to play in all three Tests. He was then selected on the 1959 Kangaroo tour and played in 5 Tests and 14 minor tour matches.
In the twilight of his career aged 36 in 1963, with his new club Norths showing sparkling early-season form Wilson was selected as captain for New South Wales in the interstate series and then for Australia for the domestic Test series of 1963 against New Zealand following injury to Arthur Summons.
He holds the dual record distinctions of being the oldest Australian Test captain (36 years and 23 days) and having the longest first grade career of any player (20 seasons)
[edit] References
- Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
- Writer, Larry (1995) Never Before, Never Again, Pan MacMillan, Sydney
[edit] External links
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