Reg Gasnier AM (born 12 May, 1939 in Kogarah, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer, regarded as one of the 20th century's finest. He played in the centres for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967. He also represented Australia in 36 Tests and three World Cup games and was the Captain of the national side on eight occasions between 1962 and 1967, and is uncle to former Australian League representative Mark Gasnier.
Childhood and early career
Gasnier was born and raised in the southern Sydney suburb of Mortdale. At Sutherland Intermediate High School Gasnier began to hone his natural sporting ability playing rugby, cricket, baseball and athletics. Reg Gasnier later attended Sydney Technical High School in the St. George area suburb of Bexley as a local student. Whilst at 'Tech', he became a champion schoolboy sportsman in both rugby and cricket.
He was selected at age 13 in a New South Wales Schoolboy side in a curtain raiser to the 1952 Australia and New Zealand Test.
St. George Dragons
In 1957 at the age of eighteen Gasnier was forced to choose which sport to focus on having already achieved junior state representative honours in both cricket and rugby league.
He signed on to play for the St. George Dragons, his local rugby league club for the start of the 1958 season. His talents had been noticed while he was playing for junior club Renown United. His rise through the game was meteoric, after only six games in third grade he was selected for 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 a vital member of the all-conquering Dragons team of the later 1950s and early 1960s that successfully won 11 successive premiership victories. Gasnier himself enjoyed seven of those premiership victories
Before Gasnier the St George dynasty with three premierships to its credit had a backline that was well-drilled and competent but still one that deferred to the powerful Dragons forwards. After Gasnier donned the number 3 jersey, the backs came into their own as an irrespressible scoring machine.
Gasnier has been described as the ultimate all round rugby league player, possessing speed and a beautiful running style, good hands, a superb change of pace and great anticipation along with being a sound defender. He was dubbed 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by 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 then ARL chairman Bill Buckley was quoted, "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."
Australia
Gasnier made his international debut for Australia against New Zealand in the 1st Test on 1959 in Sydney and played in all three Tests of that series.
At the end of the 1959 season Gasnier toured England with the Kangaroos a highlight being his three tries in the 1st Test against a star studded Great Britain team at Station Road, Swinton.
He 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 on eight occasions. Today he remains twelfth on the all-time scorers list for Australia.
Retirement
Gasnier's retirement was forced by a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his knee. After leaving the playing field in 1967 Gasnier was involved in the media side of rugby league, writing about and becoming involved in broadcasting the game and showing that not only did he play the game beautifully but knew the detailed ins and outs of it.
He is the uncle of former St George Illawarra Dragons and Australian international, Mark Gasnier.
Honours
Since retirement he has been awarded a variety of honours. In 1985 he was selected as one of the initial four post-war “Immortals” of the Australian game with Churchill, Raper and Fulton and in December of that year he was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fame. In 2002 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
In February 2008, Gasnier was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908-2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. Gasnier went on to be named as one of the centres, along with Mal Meninga, in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century . Announced on 17 April 2008 , the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players. In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century also, and Gasnier was again named at centre.
He was made a life member of the Sydney Cricket Ground and a plaque in the Walk of Honour there commemorates his career. He is a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).
References
- ^ Toby Creswell and Samantha Trenoweth (2006). 1001 Australians You Should Know . Australia: Pluto Press. pp. 669. ISBN 1864033614, 9781864033618 . http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QqtinbjO0oEC&vq=rugby&source=gbs_navlinks_s .
- ^ Meares, Peter (2003). Legends of Australian sport: The Inside Story . Australia: University of Queensland Press. pp. 79. ISBN 0702234109, 9780702234101 . http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aMw_Zpew2OgC .
- ^ Peter Cassidy ( 2008-02-23 ). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News . http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players . Retrieved 2008-02-23 .
- ^ "Centenary of Rugby League - The Players". NRL & ARL . 2008-02-23 . http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true . Retrieved 2008-02-23 .
- ^ Todd Balym ( 2008-04-17 ). "Johns, Meninga among Immortals". Fox Sports Australia . http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23557351-23214,00.html . Retrieved 2008-04-17 .
- ^ "Team of the Century Announced". NRL & ARL . 2008-04-17 . http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/news--reviews/media-releases/team-of-the-century-anno
REGULATION NO. 12 CONTROL OF NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSIONS
Reg.No. 12 - Page 1 REGULATION NO. 12 CONTROL OF NITROGEN OXIDES EMISSIONS 11/24/93 SECTION 1 - APPLICABILITY 1.1 Except, as provided in Section 4, the provisions of this ...
H-3.1 Reg 12 - Commercial Vehicles Hours of Service Regulations - v2
Description: formerly under The Highway Traffic Act which was repealed by The Traffic Safety Act (T-18.1). These Regulations continue in force under The Traffic Safety Act.
Queen's Printer: N-5.1 Reg 12 - Northern Municipality Assessment and ...
Description: under The Northern Municipalities Act Chapter N-5.1 Reg 12 (sections 1 and 2 effective October 9, 1996; sections 3 to 23 effective November 1, 1996) as amended by ...
Talk:Reg 12: Iraq Property Claims Commission - Wikisource
Information about this edition; Original edition: Official publication: Source: http://www.cpa-iraq.org/regulations/ Contributor(s) Quadell and his trusty sidekick Polbot
DEPARTMENT OF TRADE & INDUSTRY
REG 12 Page 1 of 1 24/01/07 DEPARTMENT ...
REG 12, REG 12V, REG 1, REG 12V 1, REG 15V, REG 15, REG 12V 1A 4, REG ...
reg 12, reg 12v, reg 1, reg 12v 1, reg 15v, reg 15, reg 12v 1a 4, reg 10v 1, reg 12v 3a adj on, reg 12v 2a adj on, reg 2-3, reg 12v 2a adj horz smd 12-sip - pt6204c, reg 12v 3a ...
Promo Brochure - Reg 12 (Julia)
Magnificent Morab Horses The horse with Mor-a-bility Promo Brochure - Reg 12 (Julia)
CanLII - Electricity Marketing Regulation (Download Version), Alta ...
Travel Clubs Regulation, Alta. Reg. 56/2002; Repealed or Spent. Electricity Marketing Regulation (Download Version), Alta. Reg. 12/2003; Natural Gas Direct Marketing Regulation, Alta ...
N-5.1 Reg 12 - Northern Municipality Assessment and Taxation ...
Description: under The Northern Municipalities Act Chapter N-5.1 Reg 12 (sections 1 and 2 effective October 9, 1996; sections 3 to 23 effective November 1, 1996) as amended by ...
REG 12, REG 12V, REG 2, REG 12V 1, REG 15V, REG 15, REG 2-3, REG 12V ...
reg 12, reg 12v, reg 2, reg 12v 1, reg 15v, reg 15, reg 2-3, reg 12v 1a 4, reg 10v 1, reg 12v 2a adj on, reg 12v 3a adj on, reg 12v 2a adj horz smd 12-sip - pt6204c, reg 12v 1a adj ...