Brian Patrick Carlson (12 February 1933 – 14 April 1987) was an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. He was a & utility back for the Australia national team. He played in 17 Tests and 6 World Cup games between 1952 and 1961, as captain on 2 occasions. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Playing career

Carlson was a naturally gifted athlete raised in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

. He represented at district junior

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

, played 1st Grade cricket with the Wickham club in Newcastle, and was also a surf lifesaving competitor. After playing rugby league at school he was graded by the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

's Norths club in 1951. When the

1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first ever tour of Australasia by any French sports team in history. Puig Aubert captained the France national rugby league team who played 28 matches in total in both Austra ...

saw the powerful France national team come through Newcastle, 18-year-old Carlson was selected to play for the Newcastle team against them. In 1952 he scored two tries on representative debut for Country Firsts. He represented for

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

that same season against

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

in the 2nd game of the interstate series, and then against the touring

New Zealanders New Zealanders ( mi, Tāngata Aotearoa), colloquially known as Kiwis (), are people associated with New Zealand, sharing a common history, culture, and language (New Zealand English). People of various ethnicities and national origins are citiz ...

. He was selected in the 1952–53

Kangaroo tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...

as a . He played in two Tests against England, one against France and in sixteen minor tour games. He was highest try-scorer on the tour returning with a tally of twenty-nine. In 1954 a rib injury rupturing his kidney threatened both his career and his life. He was close to death but recovered and sat out the 1955 season to recuperate. He returned to the field in 1956 and 1957 accepting positions as

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

firstly with Souths Newcastle then with

Blackall, Queensland Blackall is a rural town and locality in the Blackall-Tambo Region, Queensland, Australia. In the the locality of Blackall had a population of 1,416 people. The town is the service centre for the Blackall-Tambo Region. The dominant industry ...

. He was selected in the 1957 World Cup squad despite not being contracted to a club, having left Blackall in dispute over a release. This return to representative rugby league at age 24 saw him rise to new heights. He played in three matches of the tournament, was top scorer with 28 points and named "Player of the 1957 World Cup". During the World Cup, Carlson also became the first Australian fullback to score a try in an international match when he scored in Australia's 26–9 win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

(he also kicked 7 goals during the game). He also played in all three Tests in 1957 against the visiting Great Britain side. Carlson signed a contract with the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

where he would stay for six years. In 1959 Carlson played in the New South Wales loss to Queensland that attracted 35,261 spectators, smashing Brisbane's previous record for an interstate match of 22,817. He was then named Australian captain in the first Test of 1959 against New Zealand. He toured with the 1959–60 Kangaroos playing in 24 matches including two Tests and was the tour's second highest scorer behind

Keith Barnes William Keith Barnes AM (born 30 October 1934), also known by the nickname of "Golden Boots", is a Welsh-born Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s, and coached in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He was a for ...

his selection rival for the fullback position. He was the leading point scorer for Australia in the

1960 World Cup The 1960 Rugby League World Cup was the third staging of the tournament and the first Rugby League World Cup to be held in Great Britain. The same format as used in 1957 was used, with a group stage leading to a final table. The 1960 World Cup ...

. His second honour as Australian captain came in the first Test of the 1961 tour of New Zealand.

was the Kangarooo captain for the 11 matches between Carlson's captaincy appearances. Carlson captain North Sydney in the

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

and

1962 NSWRFL season The 1962 NSWRFL season was the 55th New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, Australia's first rugby league competition. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which cul ...

s, the latter being his last in the premiership. He returned to Newcastle's Souths club in 1963 as captain-coach for three seasons.

Post-playing

After retiring from playing Carlson worked in Newcastle as a tally clerk on the wharves. He died in 1987. In 2005 Carlson was inducted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian. It was officially established in 2002, ...

. In August 2006 he was named at fullback in the North Sydney Bears' ''

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

''. In 2007 Carlson was selected by a panel of experts as a winger in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'. In February 2008, Carlson was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

and

ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives compan ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In 2010 Carlson was named in a South Newcastle team of the century.

Representative matches played

References

Sources

Brian Carlson at northsydneybears.coom.au
* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Carlson, Brian 1933 births 1987 deaths Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players New South Wales rugby league team players Queensland rugby league team players Northern Suburbs Blues players North Sydney Bears players Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Gosford, New South Wales Newcastle rugby league team players South Newcastle Lions players