Hans Eric Mork (1 November 1909 – 2 January 1960) was a South African-born 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 1920s and 1930s. He played in
Sydney for the
Newtown club (with whom he won the
1933 NSWRFL Premiership), as well as in
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
for the
Western Suburbs club and elsewhere in country
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 ...
.
Background
Mork was born in
Port Elizabeth,
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...
.
Playing career
Mork was one of four brothers to play for
Newtown. He was graded with the club in 1927 and made it to first grade two years later.
He played eight seasons with
Newtown between 1929 and 1938 with a few country captain-coach seasons in between. He was captain-coach of 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 ...
's
Western Suburbs club in 1932. Mork represented N.S.W. Country Firsts in 1934 whilst playing for
Goulburn
Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of the Australian state of New South Wales, approximately south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters pate ...
but returned to Newtown the following season.
Mork won a premiership with
Newtown in
1933 and became club captain in 1935. Mork also played in Newtown's 1929 grand final loss against
South Sydney.
Death
Mork was killed in a car accident on 2 January 1960, aged 50.
[Sydney Morning Herald: Death Notice 23/1/1960]
References
1909 births
1960 deaths
Australian rugby league coaches
Australian rugby league players
Newtown Jets players
Road incident deaths in New South Wales
Rugby league players from Eastern Cape
South African emigrants to Australia
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