Charles Russell (rugby)

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Charles Russell
Charles Russell in 1920
Full name Charles Joseph Russell[1]
Date of birth (1884-12-05)5 December 1884[1]
Place of birth St Peters, New South Wales [1]
Date of death 15 May 1957(1957-05-15) (aged 72)
Rugby league career
Position Wing
Professional clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1910-19 Newtown Jets 69 (259)
National teams
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1910-12 Australia 3 (3)
Teams coached
1933 Newtown Jets
Rugby league career
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position wing[1]
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
Newtown Rugby Union
National team(s)
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1907–09[1] Wallabies[1] 5[1] (9)[1]

Charles "Boxer" Joseph Russell (5 December 1884 – 15 May 1957) was a pioneer Australian rugby union and rugby league footballer and coach. He represented his country in both sports and was one Australia's early dual-code rugby internationals. He was a gold medallist at the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Rugby union career

1908 Olympic Gold Final Wallabies v Cornwall.

Russell was a centre/winger whose club rugby was played with the Newtown RUFC in Sydney. He played three Tests for the Wallabies in 1907 against the All Blacks before being selected for the first Wallaby tour of Britain in 1908. He played in both Tests of the tour scoring tries in each. His 24 tries in all games of that tour still stands as Wallaby record. He was a member of the Australian Olympic team who won Gold in London in 1908 in the team captained by Chris McKivat.

Rugby league career

On his return to Australia he joined the fledgling code of rugby league along with 13 of his Olympic teammates. He played at full-back in the first Test against Great Britain in 1910 when Australia hosted the tourists. He was selected in 1911 for the 2nd Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and played in 24 tour matches scoring 9 tries. He played on the wing in the victorious 1st and 2nd Tests of 1911.

During the 1910 Great Britain Lions tour of Australia and New Zealand, the first ever, Russell made his international league debut in the first Test in Sydney on 18 June. Four of his former Wallaby team mates also debuted that day John Barnett, Bob Craig, Jack Hickey, and Chris McKivat - making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals. This repeated a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in Micky Dore, Dally Messenger, Denis Lutge, Doug McLean snr and Johnny Rosewell all debuted for the Kangaroos in the first ever Test against New Zealand. His club football was with Newtown in Sydney. He was captain-coach of the Newtown premiership-winning side of 1910, landing two goals to tie the final against South Sydney 4-4, thus enabling Newtown to win the premiership.

Russell was also selected for the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain.

Post playing

Russell coached Newtown for a number of years including the premiership winning team of 1933. He was a graded referee and served as an Australian rugby league selector for a number of years.

In 2008, the centenary year of rugby league in Australia, Russell was named in the Newtown Jets 18-man team of the century.

Russell middle row 3rd from left, with the 1908 Wallaby tour squad
Olympic medal record
Men's Rugby union
Gold 1908 London Team competition

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 "Scrum.com player profile of Charles Russell". Scrum.com. Retrieved 12 July 2010. 
  • Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
  • Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
  • Collective essays (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, Harper Collins Publishers Sydney
  • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

External links


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