Frank Stanmore (1929–2005) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative , he played club football in Sydney's NSWRFL for Western Suburbs, winning the 1948 Premiership with them. Stanmore also played in the Newcastle Rugby League and was inducted into the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its tributaries with highland areas to the north and so ...

Sporting Hall of Fame. Stanmore, who played representative rugby league as a 17-year-old five-eighth for Coalfields against Newcastle in 1947, moved from Cessnock to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

's Western Suburbs club. During his first season of NSWRFL Premiership first grade in 1948, he earned selection for

and New South Wales. Also that year he played in Wests' grand final victory over Balmain. At the start of the following season he was at the centre of a dispute between the Cessnock and Western Suburbs clubs. Remaining with Wests, that year he was selected to go on the Australian national team's tour of New Zealand but did not play in a test match. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 270. Stanmore was selected to play in 1950's Ashes series victory over Great Britain alongside his club halves partner,

Keith Holman Keith Victor Holman, MBE (11 September 1927 – 11 October 2011) was an Australian Rugby League footballer, a national and state representative whose club career was played with Western Suburbs from 1949 to 1961. He has since been named ...

. At the end of the

1950 NSWRFL season The 1950 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-third season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia’s first. Ten teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season which culminat ...

Stanmore played in Wests' grand final loss to South Sydney. He was selected to represent

against France during their 1951 tour of Australasia in a match that ended in a 19-all draw. He also represented Australia against France. He was selected to go on the 1952-53

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 Great Britain and France, thus missing Western Suburbs' victory in

1952 NSWRFL Premiership The 1952 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the forty-fifth season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across Sydney contested for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a gra ...

Final. On tour he played in four tests and captained the Kangaroos to victory in seven out of seven minor matches. Returning to the Newcastle Rugby League, Stanmore captain-coached Maitland's club in 1954, taking them to the grand final, but the match was lost to Cessnock. He also continued playing representative football for Country NSW. Stanmore died in 2005 at the age of 75 from a heart attack related to a breathing disorder. In 2011 Stanmore was named at in Cessnock's team of the century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stanmore, Frank 1929 births 2005 deaths Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players People from the Hunter Region Cessnock Goannas players Maitland Pickers players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Cessnock, New South Wales Western Suburbs Magpies players