Paul Vautin

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Paul Vautin

Personal information
Full name	Paul Vautin
Date of birth	21 July 1959 (1959-07-21) (age 48)
Place of birth	Brisbane, Australia
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	90 kg (200 lb)
Nickname(s)	Fatty
Club information
Position(s)	lock / second row
Current club	Retired
Youth clubs
Years	Club
1977 - 78	Brisbane Wests
Senior clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
1979 - 89 1988 - 89 1990 - 91	Manly Sea Eagles St Helens Eastern Suburbs	204 (74) 21 (16) 34 (4)
Representative teams
1982 - 90 1982 - 89	Queensland Australia	22 (7) 13 (0)
Representative teams coached
1995 - 97	Queensland
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Paul "Fatty" Vautin (born 21 July 1959), is an Australian former rugby league player, coach and, more recently, a media personality. He attended Padua College in Brisbane. In the year 2000 Paul was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.

[edit] Playing career

Vautin made his name in the 1980s playing for the Wests Panthers in Brisbane, the Manly Sea Eagles in Sydney, St Helens RFC in England, Queensland in the State of Origin and the Australia national rugby league team. He finished his playing career with the Roosters.

[edit] Club

Vautin played at either Lock or Second Row and was a defensive workaholic who would crop up in a movement when least expected due to his mobility, on-field stamina and sharp football brain. He played in losing Grand Finals with Manly in 1982 and 1983 but in 1983 was voted the Dally M Player's Player of the year, as well as Representative Player of the Year. Vautin later enjoyed success in leading Manly to victory in the 1987 Grand Final and was named Dally M Captain of the Year.

Paul signed for St Helens RFC on 2nd August 1988 and played his last match against Wigan on 29 April 1989 [1]

[edit] State of Origin

It was at the State of Origin level where "Fatty" Vautin's performances were most notable. Vautin himself has commented on the passion that would be ignited whenever he pulled on his State representative jumper. He came on as a replacement in game II of 1982 scoring a try that swung the game for Queensland. For the next nine years he was a regular in those star-studded Queensland sides and produced many inspirational performances over 22 games, often as vice-captain to Wally Lewis. He led the Queensland side in the first games of the 1988 and 1990 series.

[edit] International

Vautin first played for Australia in 1982 in the First Test against New Zealand and next returned in 1984 in the second Test against Great Britain. He played 13 Tests during his career touring New Zealand twice. He was unlucky to never tour Great Britain with the Kangaroos when he broke his arm at the end of the 1986 season. He played thirteen Tests for Australia plus three tour games in 1985 and 1989.

[edit] Matches played

[edit] Coaching career

Loyal to his Channel Nine employer, Vautin was a vocal supporter of the Kerry Packer-backed Australian Rugby League during the Super League war of the mid-1990s. He was considered a left-field selection as coach of the 1995 Queensland State of Origin team and, being given a handful of young and inexperienced players, was expected to be on the losing side. Vautin's coaching debut took a fairy tale turn when the young Queenslanders completed a 3-0 series whitewash of New South Wales that year. He was later replaced by Wayne Bennett after losing successive series in 1996 and 1997.

[edit] Post-Football Career

[edit] Commentary

Paul Vautin has been a regular commentator for Nine's Wide World of Sports' coverage of rugby league matches alongside Ray Warren and Peter Sterling for several years.

[edit] The Footy Show

Vautin has hosted The NRL Footy Show since 1994, propelling him to TV stardom. He suffered a serious concussion in 2005 filming for the show in a segment called "Dare-Devil Dudes", when he hit his head on concrete, with a helmet luckily minimising the damage. He did not host for a period of 10 or so weeks. [2] Fortunately, Vautin later returned in the 2005 season of The Footy Show, but has vowed not to do any more stupid stunts.

From 1994 to 2004 he was a mainstay of the Channel Nine match commentary team along with Peter Sterling and Ray Warren. Since the concussion incident he has focussed on his Footy Show appearances but currently is still part of the broader Nine expert commentary team for big fixtures like the State of Origin.

Speculation existed that 2007 would be Vautin's last season as host of The Footy Show[3] however he featured in 2008 promotions on TCN Sydney.

[edit] Sam and the Fatman

In 1999 he co-hosted a post-football season show with Australian rules football commentator Sam Newman, called "Sam and the Fatman". It was a short-lived variety style show.

[edit] Fatty's Catch

In the 1994 cricket exhibition match celebrating the playing career of Allan Border, Vautin took one of the flukiest catches ever seen in any form of cricket. The catch was replayed ad nauseam on the Nine Network, and has since also been parodied by The Twelfth Man. Partially due to this parody it is sometimes referred to as "That Catch". The catch can be seen here.

[edit] Keddies Advertisements

Of late, Fatty can be heard on commercial radio and seen on billboards throughout New South Wales endorsing prominent insurance law firm Keddies.

[edit] Sources

• Colman, Mike (1992) Fatty: The Strife and Times of Paul Vautin, Ironbark Press, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Big League, State of Origin 25 Years Collectors Edition 1980-2005, News Magazines, Sydney

[edit] External links

• Paul Vautin at the State of Origin official website.
• Paul Vautin at the Former Origin Greats website.
• Saints.org
• Paul Vautin at Silvertails.net