Rex Norman (1891–1961) 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 cricketer, who represented Australasia in rugby league and New South Wales in both sports.

Rugby league career

Norman played 13 seasons in first grade in the NSWRFL, playing for Annandale between 1910 and 1914, South Sydney between 1915-1917 and 1919, and

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen New S ...

in 1918, and 1920–1922. He was one of four brothers along, with

Bernard Bernard (''Bernhard'') is a French and West Germanic masculine given name. It is also a surname. The name is attested from at least the 9th century. West Germanic ''Bernhard'' is composed from the two elements ''bern'' "bear" and ''hard'' "brav ...

Roy Roy is a masculine given name and a family surname with varied origin. In Anglo-Norman England, the name derived from the Norman ''roy'', meaning "king", while its Old French cognate, ''rey'' or ''roy'' (modern ''roi''), likewise gave rise to ...

and Ray, who played in the NSW Rugby Football League first-grade competition. Rex and Ray became only the second set of brothers to represent Australia, behind Viv and Bill Farnsworth. Rex was selected for

Australasia Australasia is a region that comprises Australia, New Zealand and some neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. The term is used in a number of different contexts, including geopolitically, physiogeographically, philologically, and ecologica ...

for the 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He played in 21 tour matches but did not play a test match. Norman was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point scorer in

1921 Events January * January 2 ** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil. ** The Spanish lin ...

Cricket career

Norman also played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for

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 ...

, appearing in seven matches from 1918 to 1920. A left-arm fast-medium bowler, he took 31 wickets at 26.83.

Later years

Norman finished his long career in

Canowindra, New South Wales Situated on the Belubula River, Canowindra (List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations, pronounced ) is a historic township and largest population centre in Cabonne Shire, New South Wales, Cabonne Shire and is located between ...

, captain-coaching both the local rugby league team and cricket team. In 1953 Norman coached the NSW Country Rugby League Firsts side to a 28-27 victory over City Firsts.https://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/matches/city-vs-country--firsts--1953/game-1/nsw-city-firsts-vs-nsw-country-firsts.html

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Rex Australian rugby league players Sydney Roosters players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Annandale rugby league players Australian cricketers New South Wales cricketers 1891 births 1961 deaths Australasia rugby league team players Cricketers from Sydney Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs captains