Frank Stanmore (1929–2005) 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 11 ...

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 The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

and was inducted into the Hunter Region 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's Western Suburbs club. During his first season of

NSWRFL 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 Sou ...

first grade in 1948, he earned selection for Sydney and

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 ...

. Also that year he played in Wests'

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. S ...

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 Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 270. Stanmore was selected to play in 1950's

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...

victory over

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

alongside his club halves partner, Keith Holman. 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 culmina ...

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

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

during their 1951 tour of Australasia in a match that ended in a 19-all draw. He also represented Australia against

. He was selected to go on the 1952-53 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, thus missing Western Suburbs' victory in 1952 NSWRFL Premiership Final. On tour he played in four tests and captained the Kangaroos to victory in seven out of seven minor matches. Returning to the

, Stanmore captain-coached

Maitland Maitland is an English and Scottish surname. It arrived in Britain after the Norman conquest of 1066. There are two theories about its source. It is either a nickname reference to "bad temper/disposition" (Old French, ''Maltalent''; Anglo Norm ...

'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