Craig Young (born 25 June 1956) is an Australian former representative

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 for the

Australia 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 Rugby league in Australia, the 'Northern Union game' in Australia in 1908. Admin ...

, the New South Wales Blues and a stalwart player over 11 seasons from 1977 to 1988 with the

St. George Dragons The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...

in the

NSWRL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

competition. He played as a prop-forward. His nickname was "Albert" after his middle name and/or the cartoon character Fat Albert.

Background

Young was born in

Wollongong, New South Wales Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

, Australia; and attended

Corrimal High School Corrimal High School is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Mixed-sex school, co-educational Comprehensive school, comprehensive secondary school, secondary day school located in East Corrimal, New South Wales, East Corr ...

Early sporting success

Young had a strong grounding in the sport of

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

as a youngster and might have followed in his father's footsteps and turned professional (his father Bob Young represented Australia). His brother Warwick was a goalkeeper who played state league soccer for the Wollongong Wolves and for St George. At the age of 16, Craig was playing for Bellambi in the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal region in the Australian state of New South Wales, nestled between the mountains and the sea. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast region. It encompasses the two cities of Wollongo ...

soccer competition while he was also competing for

Corrimal Cougars The Corrimal Cougars are an Australian rugby league football team based in Corrimal, a country town of the Illawarra region. The club are a part of Country Rugby League and has competed in the Illawarra Rugby League premiership since 1912. Hist ...

in rugby league. League eventually won the battle and Young was selected to tour Great Britain as an Australian Schoolboys team in 1972.

Club career

Young's signature was chased by several clubs but the

eventually secured his services, and went on to become one of their greatest players. In his 1977 debut season coach

Harry Bath Harry Bath (28 November 1924 – 4 October 2008), born Alfred Henry Bath, also known by the nickname of "The Old Fox", was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach who was prominent and influential in the mid-20th century. A state and i ...

claimed Young was destined for a great future and in that same year Young was instrumental in helping the Dragons take the premiership title, beating the

Parramatta Eels The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta that competes in the National Rugby League. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, and their ...

in the grand final. In 1979, Young was awarded captaincy of the Dragons' side and at 22 years of age led the side to its 15th title. He captained the side through tougher times up till 1988 including the 1985 Grand Final loss to the

Canterbury Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

. In his final 1988 season he captained the Dragons when they won the mid-week

1988 Panasonic Cup The 1988 Panasonic Cup was the 15th edition of the NSWRL Midweek Cup, a NSWRL-organised national club Rugby League tournament between the leading clubs and representative teams from the NSWRL, the BRL, the CRL and Papua New Guinea. A total of ...

competition, beating the

Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...

16–8.

Representative career

He was selected for the

1978 Kangaroo Tour The 1978 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France comprised the Australia national rugby league team's fourteenth tour of Great Britain and ninth tour of France, and took place from September to December 1978. Coached by Frank Stanton and captai ...

and played in all five Tests and eleven Tour matches. He was named "Player of the Tour". He first 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 ...

in 1979, making five appearances under the old selection rules. He was selected for the

Blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

in the first ever

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

fixture in 1980 and made four further State of Origin appearances up till 1984. In 1982 Young was named man-of-the-match in Australia's series-winning second test match against New Zealand. On the 1982 Invincibles

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 ...

Young played in five of the six Tests as well as six Tour matches. His final national representative selection was 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 ...

for the 1st test of the domestic Ashes series against Great Britain in 1984.

Post-playing career

Young took up a coaching role at the Dragons in 1989 for two seasons until he was replaced by Brian Smith at the beginning of the 1991 season. He returned to the Dragons' coaching staff as recruitment manager in 2003. Young along with his sons, Brad and Dean, own the

Unanderra Unanderra ( ) is a suburb of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately 6 km south-west of the Wollongong CBD. It is bordered to the west by Farmborough, Cordeaux Heights and Farmborough Heights in the Mount Kembla ...

Hotel and Cabbage Tree Hotel. They purchased the Unanderra Hotel in 1991 (the year after Craig Young was sacked as coach of the Dragons) and The Cabbage Tree Hotel in 2008. Since 2005, Young has had a role as team manager with the New South Wales Blues squads. Young is the father of former Dragons hooker Dean Young, who played in the club's

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

premiership team and later coached the club in 2020. Craig Young's wife Sharon died in 2016.

Awards and accolades

Young was awarded Life Membership of the

in 1988. While playing football, Young also served in the

New South Wales Police Force The New South Wales Police Force (NSW Police Force; previously the New South Wales Police Service and New South Wales Police) is the primary law enforcement agency of the state of New South Wales, Australia. Divided into Police Area Commands (P ...

and in 2008, rugby league's centenary year in Australia, he was named at prop in a NSW Police ''Team of the Century''. On 20 July 2022, Young was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century.

References

External links

Craig Young at eraofthebiff.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Craig 1957 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian police officers Clive Churchill Medal winners New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Rugby league players from Wollongong Rugby league props St. George Dragons captains St. George Dragons coaches St. George Dragons players