Billy Moore (rugby league)

Billy Moore
Personal information
Born 7 May 1971
Tenterfield, New South Wales
Playing information
Weight 95 kg
Position Lock, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1989–99 North Sydney Bears 211 34 0 0 136
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1992–97 Queensland 17 1 0 0 4
1995–97 Australia 3 0 0 0 0
Source: RLP

Billy Moore (born 7 May 1971 in Tenterfield, New South Wales)[1] is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. Usually playing at Lock or in the Second-row, he played representative football for both Queensland and Australia.

Moore grew up in Wallangarra in Queensland. He was born in Tenterfield, due to the hospital there being closer than the one in Stanthorpe (Qld). Moore was quoted as saying "My Mum assures me I was rushed over the border before the oxygen had time to affect my lungs."[2]

Moore represented New South Wales under-17s while in high school at Stanthorpe, Qld. He moved to the North Sydney Bears in 1989 and played in the club's reserve grade premiership side. With a radical change of the guard the following year, Moore and a number of other players (ncluding long-time back-row partner David Fairleigh) became regular first graders the following year and propelled the club from also-rans in 1989 to finalists in 1991. Although Moore damaged a jaw at the start of that year, he played superbly in the first semi-final win by the Bears for 39 years against Manly, scoring two tries. Moore was first selected in Queensland's State of Origin side in 1992. Moore was the sole try-scorer in the Maroons' 5-4 win in the second match of the series at Lang Park.

Moore was a regular selection for the maroon jersey for three seasons and famously yelled 'Queenslander! Queenslander!' in an attempt to motivate an underdog Maroons team on their way out of the tunnel in 1995. Moore was reacting to the fact that New South Wales players had said they would belt the first person that said he was a Queenslander. Against all odds, the young Queenslanders won the series 3 nil without its star Super League players. Moore's unusually exuberant and aggressive call of "Queenslander! Queenslander!" was repeated on future television coverage of State of Origin series for many years, but eventually became an embarrassment to Maroon supporters, and stopped being a part of State of Origin promotions and coverage. While Moore was initially overlooked for Test duty against New Zealand, he won a place in Australia's World Cup squad at the end of the year. He made one appearance in the competition, against South Africa, before playing further ARL Tests against Fiji (1996) and Rest of the World (1997) in consecutive years.

Moore's value for Norths can be measured by the fact that the club failed to fire in the 1994 final against the Canberra Raiders after he was forced to leave the field with concussion. He continued to play tirelessly for his club in subsequent semi-final campaigns but his representative career ended when he was left out of the Queensland team for the 1998 series. At the end of 1999, Moore failed to secure a contract with the merged Northern Eagles club and reluctantly retired.

In 2000 Moore was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. In August, 2006 he was named in the North Sydney Bears' Team of the Century. He now co-owns a restaurant on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.[3]

References

  1. ↑ Ritchie, Dean (6 April 2011). "Not being from Queensland no bar to Cane Toad State of Origin selection". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  2. ↑ Sharwood, Anthony (15 June 2011). "Why Queensland care more, and NSW couldn’t care less". The Punch. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "Old Earth rises as new bistro" sunshinecoastdaily.com

External links