Harold "Mick" Crocker (14 December 1927 – 11 December 2014) was an Australian professional
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 who played in the 1940s and 1950s. An
Australia national and
Queensland state representative back-row forward, he played his club career in Brisbane with
Souths and in Sydney with
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
.
After a successful career as a Queensland and then Australian international representative, in the 1954 pre-season Crocker signed a then-record one-season deal for an Australian to move south and play for Sydney club
Parramatta
Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...
in order to assist his family who had lost their home in a fire the previous year. Parramatta finished the
1954 NSWRFL season
The 1954 NSWRFL season was the forty-seventh season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership competition, based in Sydney. Ten rugby league football teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the se ...
with the wooden spoon however. In the postseason Crocker was selected for the
Australian national team's campaign for the
1954 Rugby League World Cup
The 1954 Rugby League World Cup was rugby league football's first World Cup and was held in France in October–November 1954. Officially known as the "Rugby World Cup", SPARC, 2009: 28 four nations competed in the tournament: Australia, France, ...
tournament, the first ever, which was held in France. Crocker didn't play in the Kangaroos' first match which was lost to
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 is ...
, but was selected as a second-row forward for the second match against
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 ...
which Australia won. He played in the third match against
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
which the Australians lost, meaning they would fail to reach the final. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 278. The following season was Crocker's last in the NSWRFL Premiership's first grade.
In 2009 Crocker was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crocker, Harold
1927 births
2014 deaths
Australia national rugby league team players
Australian rugby league players
Brisbane rugby league team players
Parramatta Eels players
Place of birth missing
Rugby league locks
Rugby league players from Brisbane
Rugby league second-rows
Souths Logan Magpies players