Jim Craig (1895–1959) 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 coach. He was a versatile
back
The human back, also called the dorsum, is the large posterior area of the human body, rising from the top of the buttocks to the back of the neck. It is the surface of the body opposite from the chest and the abdomen. The vertebral column run ...
for the
Australian national team. He played in seven
tests
Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to:
* Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities
Arts and entertainment
* ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film
* ''Test'' (2014 film), ...
between 1921 and 1928 as captain on three occasions and has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century. Craig was a player of unparalleled versatility. It is known that he represented in Tests at fullback, centre, halfback and hooker with some of his club and tour football played at winger, five-eighth and lock forward. Whiticker's reference reports that the great
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 ...
regarded Craig as the greatest player Messenger ever saw.
Early years
Craig grew up in
Balmain in Sydney and played as a junior for the local club.
[Whiticker pp77-80]
Playing career
1910s
Craig made his first grade
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 Sout ...
debut as a winger in 1915 with the
Balmain club.
He played at centre for Balmain in the
1916 NSWRFL season's premiership final victory over
South Sydney. Craig played five seasons with the club excluding 1918 when he was on military duty. Balmain won the premiership in all five of those years.
Craig's versatility was such that he was selected at hooker for a match on tour of New Zealand in 1919.
1920s
Graig first represented for
New South Wales
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, 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 ...
against a touring English side in 1920. He was selected on the
1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and made his test debut in the first test at Leeds. He appeared in 23 minor tour matches notching a total of 58 points as a try scorer and goal kicker. Following his
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 ...
representative appearances in 1922 he played a season with the
University
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
club in Sydney.
In 1923 Craig relocated to Queensland and took the captain-coach position with Ipswich for the next six seasons. While a
Queensland
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, 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_ ...
resident from 1923–28 he represented that state on twenty-three occasions and then in 1929 he twice again represented for New South Wales.
In the 1924 domestic Ashes series against England Craig was named as Australian captain in all three tests. Again in 1928 he played in all three tests of the domestic Ashes series in sides led by his Queensland rival
Tom Gorman.
The last two seasons of Craig's sixteen-year career were with the
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly r ...
. Craig was the NSWRL's top points scorer in seasons
1929
This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...
and
1930
Events
January
* January 15 – The Moon moves into its nearest point to Earth, called perigee, at the same time as its fullest phase of the Lunar Cycle. This is the closest moon distance at in recent history, and the next one will be ...
. He was captain-coach of the side to their maiden title over
St George
Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...
in
season 1930 in the first ever Grand Final played to determine the premiership.
Post-playing
After football Jim Craig coached
Western Suburbs in 1932 and 1939 and
North Sydney in 1936. He coached
Canterbury-Bankstown
Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs o ...
to win the Premiership in 1938.
Craig died on 13 December 1959, aged 64.
In 2005 he was admitted into the
Australian Rugby League
The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...
Hall of Fame. In February 2008, Craig 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 compan ...
to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In June 2008, he was chosen in the
Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century
The Queensland Rugby League Team of the Century is a hypothetical team comprising the best players who have played for Queensland to form a team for 1909 until 2008. Rugby league in Queensland was initiated in 1909 with the Queensland Rugby Footb ...
on interchange bench. In 2012 Craig was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.
References
Sources
* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney
* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
''Queensland Team of the Century named'' – article at nz.leagueunlimited.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Craig, Jim
1895 births
1959 deaths
Australasia rugby league team players
Australia national rugby league team captains
Australia national rugby league team players
Australian military personnel of World War I
Australian rugby league coaches
Australian rugby league players
Balmain Tigers players
Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches
North Sydney Bears coaches
Rugby league utility players
Rugby league players from Sydney
Sydney University rugby league team players
Western Suburbs Magpies coaches
Western Suburbs Magpies players