Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) 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 it ...

and

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 ...

player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

in 5 Tests from 1910 to 1912. He is unique in Australian rugby history as the only man to captain both the national rugby union and rugby league teams. Following his playing career he became the most successful coach of North Sydney in the club's history. Chris McKivat

Unique in history

He captained the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, United Kingdom, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were o ...

gold medal-winning Wallaby side and was the eighth captain of the

Australian national rugby league team The Australian National Rugby League Team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competition since the establishment of the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian ...

leading them in all three Tests of the 1911–12 tour. Thus he captained his country to victory on tour in two different rugby codes.Whiticker pp43-44

Rugby union career

McKivat was born in

Cumnock, New South Wales Cumnock is a small town in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the now closed cross-country railway line from Molong to Dubbo. The town is located in Cabonne Shire. At the , Cumnock had a population of 275 people. In the 2021 census the ...

and educated by the Patrician Brothers in Orange. He played country rugby union with the "Our Boys" club in Wellington and was regularly selected in country representative teams until he was 26. He was a tactically brilliant half-back and a great on-field leader of both forwards and backs. Affectionately known as the "hairy bloke", he moved to Sydney to join the Glebe Rugby Club in 1905 and played five-eighth for four seasons outside Fred Wood who would later be vice-captain of the 1908–09 Wallabies. McKivat was selected for New South Wales in 1905 to represent against the visiting

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, ...

and then for the

in 1907 playing three Tests against the All Blacks. He was on the first

Wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

tour of the United Kingdom in 1908–09 and captained the side in 17 tour matches including the historic gold medal-winning match against Cornwall representing England in the 1908 London Olympics. Postcard - Wallabies 1908

Rugby league career

McKivat crossed over to the professional code joining the Glebe Rugby League Club as a 29-year-old veteran in 1910. He made his rugby league international debut that same year in the first Test in Sydney on 18 June 1910 against Great Britain. Four of his former

teammates also debuted that day

John Barnett John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

, Bob Craig, Jack Hickey and Charles Russell – making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals. This repeated a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in

Micky Dore Michael Joseph Dore (1 July 1883 – 13 August 1910) was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer - a dual-code international. He was one of the founding fathers of rugby league in Queensland. Along with Dally Messe ...

Dally Messenger Herbert Henry Messenger, nicknamed "Dally" and sometimes "The Master" (12 April 1883 – 24 November 1959) was one of Australasia's first professional rugby footballers, recognised as one of the greatest-ever players in either code. He played f ...

Denis Lutge Denis "Dinny" Lutge (26 November 1879 – 18 February 1953) was a pioneer Australian rugby league and rugby union player, a dual-code international. He was the second ever captain of the Australian national rugby league team and the first to le ...

Doug McLean snr Douglas James McLean Sr. (15 April 1880 – December 1947) was a pioneer Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international. He also represented Queensland in rugby league. Rugby union career Born in Br ...

and

John Rosewell John S. H. Rosewell (1 July 1882 – 20 November 1931) was an Australian rugby union and pioneer professional rugby league footballer and represented his country at both sports – a dual-code international. Rugby union career His rugby uni ...

all debuted for the

in the first ever Test against

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 coun ...

. The crowning achievement of his distinguished football career came on the

1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the second ever Kangaroo tour and was actually a tour by an " Australasian" squad that included four New Zealand players in addition to 24 Australian representatives. It took place over the British ...

when he captained Australia in all three Tests against Great Britain for two wins and one draw to a series victory that would not be equalled for more than 50 years. Australia's first Rugby League Ashes success was testament to his on-field genius and off-field leadership. He played in 31 matches on Tour (30 successive appearances) and scored 10 tries. The Heads/Middleton reference describes him a being revered on that tour – a magnificent general, tough, durable and an inspiration to the men around him. It quotes Johnny Quinlan the tour co-manager ''"He always set a splendid example in conduct and training – a natural leader"''Heads, Middleton p47 Chris McKivat is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 67. His representative career ended at age 32 with that Ashes success and in retirement he became the first of the game's high-profile non-playing coaches. He coached

Glebe Glebe (; also known as church furlong, rectory manor or parson's close(s))McGurk 1970, p. 17 is an area of land within an ecclesiastical parish used to support a parish priest. The land may be owned by the church, or its profits may be reserved ...

, Wests and Norths in the following years, including North Sydney's premiership winning sides of

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in Brazil. ** The Spanish liner ''Santa Isabel'' bre ...

and

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

Death

Christopher McKivat died on 4 May 1941 after a short illness at the age of 60. He died at Gloucester House, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Camperdown. He was survived by his wife and one son. A large funeral took place at St. James Church,

Forest Lodge, New South Wales Forest Lodge is a small, inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Forest Lodge is located 4 kilometres south-west of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City ...

, and he was buried at Botany Cemetery.

Accolades

The Heads/Middleton reference describes him as quiet, good humoured man off the football field, always immaculately dressed and often puffing on a cigar but a lesson in contrasts on the field – voluble, hard-driving and relentlessly barking orders. The Sydney Morning Herald wrote ''"he was described by rugby and rugby league authorities as the 'best' halfback of all time. No one possessed better all round ability. His service from the scrum was the speediest of any halfback since the coming of district football."'' In 2005 McKivat was admitted into the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

Hall of Fame. In August 2006 he was named as coach of 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 February 2008, McKivat was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL 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 comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

Footnotes

References

* Heads, Ian and Middleton, David (2008) ''A Centenary of Rugby League'', MacMillan Sydney * Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ

External links

Chris McKivat at the Online Dictionary of Australian Biographies
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McKivat, Christopher 1880 births 1941 deaths Australasia rugby league team players Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union captains Australian rugby union players Burials at Eastern Suburbs Memorial Park Dual-code rugby internationals Glebe rugby league players Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics North Sydney Bears coaches Olympic gold medalists for Australasia Olympic rugby union players of Australasia Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby union players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Western Suburbs Magpies coaches Rugby union players from New South Wales Rugby union fly-halves