Charlie Fox (27 July 1898 – January 1985) was an Australian

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 ...

player, a state and

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representative second-rower who made 36 appearances for the

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, playing in 17 Test matches and captained the national side on seven occasions (one Test match) in 1925. __TOC__

Representative career

Charles Fox was twenty-one years of age and playing for the Glebe-Balmain Club in Sydney when he was selected in 1919 to play in an invitation Australian XV against an AIF side, a match which marked a re-kindling of interest in

in Sydney following

WWI World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. In 1920 he appeared three times for the

New South Wales Waratahs The New South Wales Waratahs ( or ;), referred to as the Waratahs, are an Australian professional rugby union team representing the majority of New South Wales in the Super Rugby competition. The Riverina and other southern parts of the state, ...

against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987 ...

scoring a try in his representative debut. With no

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of rugby union within the state of Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. The QRU was founded in Brisbane in ...

competition in place at that time the

were the top

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n representative

side of the period and a number of Waratah matches of the 1920s played against full international opponents were in 1986 decreed by the

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as Test matches. In 1921 he represented for New South Wales against the visiting

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and was selected to tour

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. He played in seven matches on tour including the Waratah's Test victory. He made representative appearances in 1922 against the New Zealand Maori and the All Blacks, played in three Tests against them in 1924 and in five matches against them in 1925. The 3rd test of 1925 played on 23 June at the Sydney Showground was Fox's sole appearance as the national captain. He was solid in further Test appearances against New Zealand in 1926. He was a tremendous lineout forward and one of the senior players for the

1927–28 Waratahs tour of Britain, France and Canada Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

, picked as the tour's vice-captain under

Johnnie Wallace Arthur Cooper "Johnnie" Wallace (5 October 1900 – 3 November 1975) was an Australian rugby union player, a state and Australian national rugby union team, national representative three-quarter who captained the New South Wales Waratahs, Warata ...

. He played in ten of the first thirteen games of the trip until he suffered a severe leg injury in the tour match loss to

Oxford University RFC The Oxford University Rugby Football Club (Oxford University RFC or OURFC) is the rugby union club of the University of Oxford. The club contests The Varsity Match every year against Cambridge University at Twickenham. History Men's team ...

. He was captain in that Oxford game and with no substitutes allowed, the Waratahs played the second half with 14 men and lost to the students 0–3. He recovered for the last four matches including the international against

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 ...

where Fox at least enjoyed a Test match victory. He retired at the end of Waratahs tour.

References

* Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', Harper Collins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Charlie 1898 births 1984 deaths Australian rugby union players Australian rugby union captains Australia international rugby union players People educated at Sydney Grammar School Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union locks