Reg Gasnier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 1939 | |
| Place of birth | Kogarah, Australia | |
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) | |
| Nickname | Puff the Magic Dragon | |
| Position | Centre | |
| Professional clubs* | ||
| 1959 - 1967 | St. George | 129 (127) |
| National team | ||
| 1959 - 1968 | Australia | 36 (26) |
|
* Professional club appearances and (tries) |
||
Reg Gasnier (born 1939 in Kogarah, New South Wales) was an Australian rugby league player for the St. George Dragons club and is still today recognised as one of the games greatest ever players. Gasnier also played and represented Australia and is the uncle of current St George Illawarra Dragons and Australian international Mark Gasnier. His position of choice was at centre
Contents |
[edit] Childhood and early career
Gasnier was born and raised in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah where it was here at the local Kogarah Intermediate High School Gasnier first used and began to hone his natural sporting ability playing rugby, cricket, baseball and athletics. Reg Gasnier also attended the mighty, courageous school of St. George, Sydney Technical High School, he further excelled in his various sporting exploits becoming a champion schoolboy sportsman in both rugby and cricket.
[edit] St. George Dragons
In 1957 at the age of eighteen Gasnier was then forced to choose which sport he would attempt to forge a career in, after many tipped he would achieve state honours in both cricket and rugby league. He then decided on rugby league and the rest in history.
He signed on to play for his beloved St. George Dragons, his local rugby league club for the start of the 1958 season after his immense talents were noticed while he was playing for junior club Renown United. His rise through the game was from then meteoric, after only six games in third grade he was selected to make his first grade debut and after only five first grade games he was selected for New South Wales. By 1959 Gasnier had become an established member of both the New South Wales state side and the Australian international team. He was also a vitally important member of the all-conquering Dragons team of the later 1950's and early 1960's that successfully won 11 successive premiership victories in which himself was involved in and won a total of ten.
Gasnier has been described by many as the ultimate all-round complete rugby league player, possessing speed and a beautiful running style, good hands, a superb change of pace, great anticipation and movement along with being a sound defender, he was dubbed 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by many Dragons fans because of this. He finished his career with the Dragons in 1967 with 127 tries and 20 goals in only 131 appearances.
Upon his retirement the ARL chairman of the time Bill Buckley was quoted as saying, "On his day, he was the greatest rugby league player I have ever seen. Gasnier had an amazing change of pace and great anticipation. He was also particularly unselfish. He was without peer."
[edit] Australia
At the end of the 1960 season Gasnier toured England with the Kangaroo's with his highlight being scoring three tries in one game against Great Britain at Swindon. Gasnier became Australia's youngest ever captain in 1962 when he led Australia against England aged 23 years and 28 days, he also toured Europe on another two occasions in 1963 and 1967, the latter also as captain.
Gasnier's career was unfortunately ended on the 1967 European tour when in a minor game against a French provincial team he sustained a cruciate injury and never played competitively again, he was only 28 years old. His international career finished with thirty-six test caps for Australia scoring twenty-six tries and captaining the side in eight of them. To this day he still stands twelth on the all-time scorers list for Australia.
[edit] Career playing statistics
[edit] Point scoring summary
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 129 | 127 | 20 | - | 421 |
[edit] Matches played
| Team | Matches | Years |
|---|---|---|
| St. George Dragons | 129 | 1959 - 1967 |
| New South Wales | 16 | 1959 - 1965, 1967 |
| Australia | 36 | 1959 - 1965, 1967 - 1968 |
[edit] Retirement
After his retirement in 1967 Gasnier was often involved in the media side of rugby league, writing about and becoming involved in broadcasting the game showing that not only did he play the game beautifully he also knew the detailed ins and outs of it.
Since his retirement he has been awarded a variety of honours, two of his most exclusive came in December 1985 when he was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame and in 2002 when he was officially inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
[edit] External links
- Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
- Jubilee Avenue Dragons Legends
- Reg Gasnier Legends profile
- Rugby league 1908 Reg Gasnier profile
[edit] References
- "Reg Gasnier History", www.bestlegenz.com.au, retrieved June 15, 2006
- "Rugby League 1908: Reg Gasnier" by Sean Fagan, RL1908, retrieved June 15, 2006
- "Gasnier inducted into Australia Hall of Fame" by Brad Walter April 19, 2004, Sport Australia Hall of Fame, retrieved June 15, 2006
