Charles "Chook" Fraser (1893–1981) was an Australian

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 and later coach. He was a versatile three-quarter for the Australian national team. He played in 11 Tests between 1911 and 1920 as captain on 3 occasions. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century

Balmain

Chook Fraser was born in Short Street, Birchgrove in 1893. A Balmain junior, Fraser was graded with 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 i ...

at age 17, before an extraordinary seventeen year first grade career for the club at either fullback or centre from 1910 to 1926.Whiticker pp71-73 He was member of Balmain's premiership winning sides of 1915, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1920 and 1924. His 185 first grade games stood as the Balmain club record for more than four decades. He was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point scorer in 1916 and 1917. He was selected in both the

Wests Tigers The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture ...

Team of the Century and the

Team of the Century in the position of centre.

Representative career

In only his second year in first grade with just 15 games to his credit and still aged 18, Fraser was selected for the 1911–12 Kangaroo Tour of England. He made his Test debut at full-back against England in the 1st Test of 1911 at Newcastle upon Tyne and played in twenty other tour matches. He was the youngest Australian footballer to play Test football (18 years 301 days) when he toured with the 1911-12 Kangaroos until surpassed by

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is the head coach of the New South Wales State of Origin team, a commentator and a television presenter. Fittler has previously coached the Sydney Roosters i ...

in 1990 and then by

Israel Folau Israel Folau ( to, ‘Isileli Folau; born 3 April 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer who plays for the Shining Arcs in the Japan Rugby League One and the Tonga national rugby union team. He has previously played Aust ...

in 2007. He made his state debut 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 1912 against New Zealand. He made a further nine state appearances during his career 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_ ...

or visiting International sides. He made ten further Test appearances (at home against the 1914 and 1920 Lions, while touring New Zealand in 1919 and then on his second

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 ...

of 1921–22, with fellow Balmain players Reg Latta, Jimmy Craig and Bill Schultz playing seven times at full-back and three times at five-eighth. The 1919 touring side of

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 ...

was the first Australian full Test side to cross the Tasman. With the world still recovering from

World War I 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 ...

and in the midst of the deadly

Spanish flu The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

pandemic, the team could only find passage to New Zealand on a cockroach and rat-infested cargo ship out of Newcastle harbour. Half-way across the Tasman, bites from the ship-bred vermin led to Fraser and

Duncan Thompson Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE (14 March 1895 – 17 May 1980) was an Australian veteran of both WWI and WWII and a rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He was wounded on active service in WWI and has been named amongst the natio ...

falling victim to blood-poisoned legs. His first appearance as captain of 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 ...

was the first test of the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He led the side in all three Tests of that series.

Post-playing

He coached Balmain on two separate occasions. He coached a Gundagai side to success in a country competition in 1926 before returning to coach the

in 1932. He remained involved with the Balmain club in the 1950s and 1960s as a talent scout and lived at Dock Road, Balmain with wife Veronica for the rest of his long life. He told Tom Goodman in the Sun Herald in 1978, "I'm 85 but I'm still a fan. I never miss a game at Leichhardt and I go to the S.C.G. for all the big games." In the same article Fraser stated that

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 ...

was greatest player he had ever seen play Rugby League. Chook Fraser's favorite hobby was sailing. He was a life member of the 18 footer sailing league in Sydney, and was a crew member of several noted boats and skiffs of his era. Charles' third son Jim, also an avid sailor, went on to win the 18-footers World Championship in 1958 sailing in "Jantzen Girl." Chook Fraser died at Birchgrove in 1981, age 88. He was survived by six children, 17 grandchildren and 6 great grandchildren, and was buried at Field of Mars Cemetery on the 3 February 1981. In 2006, Fraser 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 February 2008, Fraser 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 comp ...

to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney * ''Centenary Test Game Day Souvenir Program (2008)'', News Magazines, Surry Hills, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Charles 1893 births 1981 deaths Australasia rugby league team players Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers coaches Balmain Tigers players Rugby league centres Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league players from Sydney