Brian Knight James (9 April 1943 – 10 January 2020) 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 1960s. A

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

and state representative, he played in the 1968

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league tournament contested by the top national men's representative teams. The tournament is administered by the International Rugby League and was first held in France in 1954, which was ...

-winning team for Australia as a winger. His club career was played at for the St. George Dragons and on the wing for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Early life

The son of Country representative forward Jack James, Brian's rugby league career began in primary school. While attending Newington College (1955–1960)Newington College Register of Past Students 1863-1998 (Syd, 1999) pp98 he took up

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

and, after leaving school, played first grade for the St George Rugby Union Club.

Rugby League - club career

At the end of Brian's first year at university he transferred to the

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

rugby league club (1962-1965). While at St. George he won three reserve-grade premierships and was kept out of the top grade by

Reg Gasnier Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australian national rugby league team, Australia in a then ...

Johnny Riley Johnny Riley (born 22 June 1939) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. Playing career Riley was a St. George Junior player, and came into grade in 1959, and played alongside the great Re ...

and Billy Smith who started with the club in the centres. He won three Second Grade Premierships (1962-1964) and also a First Grade Premiership blazer in 1965. In 1962, in a Second Grade Grand Final (St George vs Wests), he scored from the kick off after St. George kicked to the backs, the ball bounced once and then he scored under the posts. It is argued that this has been the fastest try in league as it was scored 10 seconds after the kick off. He then transferred to South Sydney in 1966 for four seasons where he played in three first grade

Grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

s. He played four seasons as a winger for the South Sydney club from 1966 to 1969. He played in the Premiership winning sides of

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

. He played in the

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

loss to Balmain and crossed for Souths but was controversially ruled to have touched the corner post in the process. James then retired at the start of the 1970, at the age of 26 to pursue a career in transport and logistics.

Rugby League - representative career

Earning the recognition at Souths which he had been denied in the star-studded Saints lineups, James was selected 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 ...

in 1968 and made two appearances against Queensland. In 1968 he was called upon for Australia's

squad and appeared in Australia's 37-4 tournament win over France at

Lang Park Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

Professional Sprinting

From 1962 - 1969 during the off-season Brian traveled throughout Australia to attend professional sprinting gifts in locations such as Devonport, Macksville, North Sydney and Coonabarabran.

The First Touch Football Competition

On 9 February 1968, Brian and Jack Thom (who was a well known Sydney Solicitor and Patron of South Sydney), organised the first official touch football tournament at Redfern Oval. All but two Sydney First Grade teams took part in the event (Western Suburbs and Canterbury). The event was billed as the "South Sydney Charity Night" with proceeds going to the Spastic Centre. James and Thom along with the NSWRL Referees Association recorded the rules in the event program, that being 7 players per side plus two reserves, each half duration being seven minutes, the field is 70 yards by 40 yards and a player is "tackled" when he is touched with two hands by an opposition player.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:James, Brian 1943 births Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league centres 2020 deaths Rugby league fullbacks St. George Dragons players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Australia national rugby league team players People educated at Newington College