Ray Ritchie (31 October 1936 – 13 March 2015) 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 1950s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

ed in the 1980s. A

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 ...

state and Australia national representative three-quarter back, he played in the

New South Wales Rugby League 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 ...

for Sydney's Manly-Warringah club, becoming their coach after retirement from playing.

Playing career

Ritchie started playing first-grade for Sydney's Manly-Warringah club during the

1955 NSWRFL season The 1955 NSWRFL season was the 48th season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League. Ten teams from across Sydney competed for the NSWRFL Premiership J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a replay of the previous year' ...

. At the end of the following year, he was selected to play on the wing for a Combined Sydney team, scoring a try in their win against a touring Māori rugby league team. In 1957 he played for New South Wales against Queensland and made it into the Australian squad for the 1957 World Cup, becoming Kangaroo No. 334. Later in the year Ritchie was selected to play for Manly-Warringah in the

1957 NSWRFL season 1957's New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 50th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J. J. Giltinan Shield during the season, which culminated in a grand fin ...

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

on the wing, but

St. George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldier ...

won.

Coaching career

Ritchie was appointed head coach of the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles for the

1981 NSWRFL season The 1981 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 74th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve clubs, including six of 1908's foundation teams and another six from around Sydney ...

and under him the club was back in the semi-finals that year. The following year Manly reached the grand final, but Ritchie stood down before the 1983 season, and was succeeded by

Bob Fulton Robert Fulton (1 December 1947 – 23 May 2021), also nicknamed "Bozo", was an Australian international rugby league footballer, coach and later commentator. Fulton played, coached, selected for and has commentated on the game with great succe ...

. His daughter

Donna Donna may refer to the short form of the honorific ''nobildonna'', the female form of Don (honorific) in Italian. People *Donna (given name); includes name origin and list of people and characters with the name * Roberto Di Donna (born 1968), Ita ...

attended the 1992, 1996 and 2000

Summer Paralympics The Summer Paralympics also known as the Games of the Paralympiad, are an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete. This includes athletes with mobility disabilities, amputations, blindness, and cerebral ...

as a wheelchair basketballer and won a silver medal in 2000.

References

1936 births 2015 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles coaches Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league wingers {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1930s-stub