Clive Churchill
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Clive Bernard Churchill | |
| Date of birth | 21 January, 1927 | |
| Place of birth | Merewether, New South Wales, | |
| Date of death | 9 August, 1985 | |
| Height | 175cms | |
| Weight | 76kgs | |
| Nickname(s) | The Little Master | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| Years | Club | |
| 1946 | Central Charlestown | |
| Senior clubs* | ||
| Years | Club | Apps (points) |
| 1947-58 1959 1961 |
 South Sydney Brisbane Norths Moree |
164 (193) |
| Representative teams | ||
| 1949-57 1948-57 1959 |
 New South Wales Australia Queensland |
37 (77) 37 (20) 1 (0) |
| Professional clubs coached | ||
| 1958 1959 1964 1967-1975 |
South Sydney Brisbane Norths Canterbury Bankstown South Sydney |
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| Representative teams coached | ||
| 1959 1959-1960 |
Queensland Australian Test/World Cup sides |
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* Professional club appearances and points |
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Clive Bernard Churchill AM (born 21 January 1927 in Merewether, New South Wales, died 9 August 1985) was an Australian rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs club. He is considered as one of the game's greatest ever players. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Club career
Clive Churchill was a star schoolboy five-eighth at Marist Brothers Hamilton where he won five premierships while at school. In 1946 he was graded with Central in the Newcastle competition as a fullback.
He represented for Country Seconds in 1946 and came to the attention of Sydney talent scouts. He was signed to South Sydney by their patron Dave Spring and moved to Sydney at the start of the 1947 season. He would spend twelve seasons with the club playing 164 games.
He won five premierships with Souths in 1950, 1951, 1952, 1954 and 1955. He missed the 1952 premiership as he was away on the Kangaroo tour to England and missed the final in 1955 due to injury (he played the entire semi-final against Manly in a with a broken arm, winning the game with a successful sideline conversion kicked after the full-time bell with his broken arm wrapped in cardboard).
In 1959 Churchill captain-coached Brisbane Norths to a premiership. He retired from playing at the end of the season although in 1961 he played a swansong season in the outback town of Moree, New South Wales.
[edit] Representative career
Churchill played 34 Tests for Australia and the 1954 World Cup series. He captained Australia in 24 Test matches over a period of six years which including three series against Great Britain. Churchill played his final test for Australia on the 1956-57 Kangaroo Tour.
He also played 27 games for New South Wales.
[edit] Coach
In 1967 Churchill was appointed coach of South Sydney. He had immediate success, the Rabbitohs winning the premiership in his inaugural year as coach. He steered the Rabbitohs to four premiership victories out of five grand final appearances between 1967 and 1971. Churchill resigned as coach of the Rabbitohs during the 1975 season.
Churchill also had success in coaching the Queensland and Australian teams.
[edit] Accolades
In 1985 he was selected by the respected publication Rugby League Week as one of the initial four post-war “Immortals” of the Australian game alongside Fulton, Raper and Gasnier.
In 19xx Churchill was inducted as a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football". In 2002 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and was later named in the South Sydney team of the Century.
In February 2008, Churchill was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[2][3] Churchill went on to be named as fullback in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panels' majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.[4][5]
The Clive Churchill Medal has since 1986 been awarded annually to the player judged best on ground in the season's Grand final. He is one of only six sportsmen and two rugby league players to have a stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground named after him - the Clive Churchill Stand was opened in 1986.
[edit] See Also
[edit] References
- ^ Century's Top 100 Players
- ^ Peter Cassidy. "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players", Macquarie National News, 2008-02-23. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ Centenary of Rugby League - The Players. NRL & ARL (2008-02-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
- ^ Todd Balym. "Johns, Meninga among Immortals", Fox Sports Australia, 2008-04-17. Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
- ^ Team of the Century Announced. NRL & ARL (2008-04-17). Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
[edit] External links
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