| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | 19 April 1964 Australia |
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| Died | 5 November 1997 (aged 33) Australia |
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| Playing information | ||||||
| Position | Centre, Stand-off/Five-eighth | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 198?–86 | Souths Magpies | |||||
| 1987–88 | Canberra Raiders | 43 | 15 | 6 | 2 | 72 |
| 1987–88 | Leeds | |||||
| 1989–90 | Brisbane Broncos | 29 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 1991–93 | North Sydney Bears | 31 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 14 |
| Total | 103 | 23 | 6 | 4 | 106 | |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1986–92 | Queensland | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| 1988–92 | Australia | 9 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| Source: Rugby League Project | ||||||
Peter Jackson (19 April 1964 – 5 November 1997) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer of the 1980s and '90s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative back, he played club football in both Queensland and New South Wales as well as a season in England. Jackson worked in the media following his retirement in 1993 and died as the result of a drug overdose in 1997.
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In 1980, Peter Jackson played rugby union in the under-17s Australian schoolboys representative side before playing in the under-18s Australian schoolboys rugby league side the following year. He went on to play in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership for Souths Brisbane and prove himself as a dangerous attacking player at Centre and Stand-off/Five-eighth. In 1986, Jackson made his State of Origin debut, and the following year he followed his coach at Souths, Wayne Bennett, to Canberra to play for the Raiders in the NSWRL premiership.
Jackson signed for the English rugby league club Leeds. He played there for the 1987–88 English season along with fellow Aussie imports Peter Tunks, Steve (Slippery) Morris and Marty Gurr.
At Canberra, Jackson played in the centres, appearing in the Raiders' 1987 grand final loss to Manly, as well as achieving international selection. In the Centenary Ashes Test in 1988, Jackson scored two tries, contributing to Australia's victory and going on to play in four domestic Tests that year.
At the end of 1988, Jackson moved back to Brisbane to play with the Broncos and despite touring with the Australian side to New Zealand in 1989, his two years with the club brought inconsistent results and he moved back south to play with the North Sydney Bears.
At Norths, Jackson was the focal point of the Bears' attack during the club's successful 1991 season. He earned his place at five-eighth in the Australian Test side against New Zealand but was sent from the field for fighting in the Second Test of the series. He toured Papua New Guinea on Australia's short tour in October but was dropped after one Test against Great Britain during the 1992 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand.
In 1992, Jackson released a book of "Rugby League Facts, Funnies and Argument Starters" called WHATD'YARECKON!.[1]
Jackson missed most of the 1993 season through illness and retired after Norths' reserve grade grand final win over Newcastle to concentrate on his career in the media. Linking with Canterbury as a skills coach, Jackson contemplated a return to the field with the Bulldogs but was secretly battling his own demons.
It would later be revealed that as a fifteen year old Jackson was abused sexually by his football coach. This secret caused him to suffer from depression and to use drugs and alcohol throughout his life to try to combat it. In November 1997 Jackson shocked the Australian rugby league community when he died, alone in a cheap hotel room, of a heroin overdose. His death was later used as a powerful image in the year 2000 in a radio and television campaign to raise awareness against child abuse.[2]
Since 2003, the Peter Jackson Memorial Trophy has been awarded to the person, whether a player or member of the support staff, who makes the greatest contribution to the Queensland State of Origin team each year.
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