John Quayle (born 1947) is an Australian former 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 1960s and 1970s, and administrator in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australia national and New South Wales state representative lock or second-row forward, he played in the

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 ...

for the

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

and

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 ...

clubs. Following his retirement Quayle became the

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

's first General Manager and later the

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 comp ...

's chief executive officer.

Playing

Quayle began playing football in country New South Wales with Manilla's rugby league club as a boy, playing all his junior football with the local club. He rose through the ranks of all grades and joined Sydney's

team in 1968. At the end of the 1972 NSWRFL season he played for Easts as a second-row forward in their grand final loss to

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

. The following season Quayle joined Parramatta and also was selected to play for

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 ...

then

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 ...

. He was selected to play for Australia in the 1975 Rugby League World Series, becoming Kangaroo No. 491.

Administration

Quayle was appointed the first General Manager of the

. It was in this capacity that he, as well as

Don Furner Don Furner (26 December 1932 – 24 February 2020) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. As a player, he represented Queensland on nine occasions and also toured with the 1956–57 Kangaroos. He began his coaching career as a pl ...

and two St. George legends,

John Raper John William Raper (12 April 1939 – 9 February 2022) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed "Chook", he was a lock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in the Australia national team between ...

and

Reg Gasnier Reginald William "Reg" Gasnier (12 May 1939 – 11 May 2014) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He played for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967 and represented Australian national rugby league team, Australia in a then ...

, chose Dragons lock

Brad Mackay Brad Mackay (born 1969 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A versatile for the St George Dragons, Illawarra Steelers, Western Reds and the joint-venture of St. Georg ...

, despite being on the

1993 NSWRL season The 1993 NSWRL season (known as the 1993 Winfield Cup Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighty-sixth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. The New South Wales Rugby League's sixteen teams competed for the J. J. G ...

grand final's losing side, to be awarded the

Clive Churchill Medal The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian ...

as man-of-the-match, with Queensland premier

Wayne Goss Wayne Keith Goss (26 February 1951 – 10 November 2014) was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996, becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics, Goss was a solic ...

questioning the decision. At the end of the

1996 ARL season The 1996 ARL premiership (also known as the 1996 Optus Cup due to sponsorship from Optus) was the 89th season of professional rugby league football in Australia, and the second to be administered by the Australian Rugby League (ARL). Twenty team ...

, Quayle resigned as ARL chief executive and was replaced by Balmain president (and former hooker)

Neil Whittaker Neil Whittaker (born 10 September 1956) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s for Balmain in the NSWRL competition. Whittaker was also the chief executive officer of the National Rugby L ...

, who would become the first CEO of the

National Rugby League 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 ...

. Quayle later worked for SOCOG as an events manager during the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quayle, John 1947 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian chief executives Country New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Parramatta Eels players Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Sydney Roosters players Date of birth missing (living people)