Leslie Gordon Cowie (17 May 1925 – 20 May 1995) 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, a fine for the champion

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional 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 pla ...

teams of the 1950s and an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

national representative. In 1994 he received a Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

for service to Rugby League football.

Club career

Nicknamed "Chicka", Cowie debuted with Souths in 1947. Cowie's career with

stretched from 1947 to 1957, during which he played in ''five'' premiership winning teams. In all he played 178 first grade games for Souths. In 2004 he was named by the Souths in their ''South Sydney Dream Team'', consisting of 17 players and a coach representing the club from

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

through to

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Representative career

Cowie made six Test appearances for the Australian national representative side. He toured with the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

to Great Britain in 1948–49, playing 20 tour matches and scoring 10 tries. He also toured New Zealand with the Kangaroos in 1949 playing in two tests against the Kiwis, six other tour matches and scoring five tries. Cowie also played 10 games for NSW. He was selected to represent

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 ...

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 ...

during their 1951 tour of Australasia in a match that ended in a 19-all draw.

Footnotes

Sources

*Andrews, Malcolm. ''The ABC of Rugby League''. Australia: ABC Books, 2006. Australian rugby league players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Australia national rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players 1995 deaths 1925 births Rugby league locks Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia South Sydney Rabbitohs captains {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub