Richard Ian Charlesworth AO (born 6 February 1952) is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He 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 officia ...

for

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

and international

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shootin ...

for the Kookaburras (the Australian national team), winning a silver medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

. Charlesworth served as a federal member of parliament from 1983 to 1993, representing the Labor Party. After leaving politics, he was appointed coach of the

Hockeyroos The Australia women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Hockeyroos) are, as of January 2019, ranked third in the world. Having played their first game in 1914, and their first Olympic game in 1984, they are one of Australia's most succes ...

(the national women's field hockey team), leading them to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. Charlesworth later coached the Kookaburras from 2009 to 2014, and has also worked in consulting roles with the

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

, the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of th ...

, and the Fremantle Football Club (an

Australian football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

team).

Biography

Born in

Subiaco, Western Australia Subiaco (known colloquially as Subi) is an inner- western suburb of Perth, the capital of Western Australia. It is approximately west of Perth's central business district, in the City of Subiaco local government area. Historically a working-c ...

, Charlesworth attended Christ Church Grammar School until he graduated in 1969. In 1976, he completed a medical degree (MB, BS) from the University of Western Australia School of Medicine. In 2002, he received an honorary Doctorate of Science at the University of Western Australia and completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in philosophy and history also at the University of Western Australia. His father

Lester Charlesworth Lester Charlesworth (11 October 1916 – 15 January 1980) was an Australian cricketer. He played eight first-class matches for Western Australia between 1949/50 and 1950/51. See also * List of Western Australia first-class cricketers A ...

, a dentist, represented Western Australia in cricket between 1949–1951.

Cricket

In 1969 he captained the

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...

State under 19 cricket team before going on to play A grade Club cricket for West Perth (1969–1970, 1976–82) and

University Cricket Club A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', whic ...

(1970–76). He played in 47 first-class matches for

from 1972 until 1979, making 2,327 runs at an average of 30.22. He was a member of

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Sh ...

winning teams in 1972–73, 1976–77, 1977–78, and was a squad member in the winning season of 1974–75.

Hockey

Player

Charlesworth was coached by Ray House at Christ Church Grammar School, where he was promoted to the school's first XI at an early age. He was a member of the PSA Hockey Cup (now known as the Ray House Hockey Cup) winning teams of 1966–67. He played in and captained the Western Australia hockey team and the Australia men's

team the '' Kookaburras''. He was selected to represent Australia in five Olympic hockey teams, 1972, 1976, 1980 (captain) ( Moscow Olympics were boycotted), 1984 (captain), and 1988, winning Silver at the 1976, Montreal Olympic Games. He was a member of the national team which competed in various other international tournaments including winning the World Hockey Cup in London in 1986 where he was named player of the Tournament. He retired from playing after representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He played 227 games for his country and scored 85 goals. Charlesworth was inducted into the Australian Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008, the second person to achieve this award. In 1980, while playing for The

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

Hockey Club, Charlesworth also won the Olympian's Medal, an annual award presented to the player judged by umpires to be the fairest and best in men's first division competition in Western Australia. In addition, the female equivalent of this award, the

Charlesworth Medal Charlesworth may refer to: Places * Charlesworth, Derbyshire, England * Charlesworth, Edmonton, Canada People * Charlesworth (surname), including a list of people with the surname * Charlesworth Samuel (died 1980), Antiguan politician Other ...

, is named in his honour.

Coach

From 1993 to 2000 he was head coach of the Australian Women's hockey team, the ''

''. During this time they won the Champion's Trophy in 1993 (Amsterdam), 1995 (Mar del Plata), 1997 (Berlin) and 1999 (Brisbane), the World Hockey Cup in 1994 (Dublin) and 1998 (Netherlands) and were gold medallists in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and Sydney Olympics in 2000 and 1998 Commonwealth Games in

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...

. Prior to his appointment as technical adviser to the men's and women's Indian hockey teams, he was the high-performance manager for the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 193 ...

. He was selected to act as an advisor to the newly formed hockey selection committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association. Charlesworth has been a mentor coach to several national team coaches with the

and a performance consultant with the Fremantle Football Club. In 2009, Charlesworth was appointed coach of the Australian men's national hockey team, the ''Kookaburras''. The team went on to win the 2009 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

, Australia; the 2010 Hockey World Cup in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the NCT Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati B ...

, India; the 2010 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladba ...

, Germany; the 2010 Commonwealth Games Men's Hockey Gold Medal in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders wi ...

, India and the 2011 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in Auckland. After coaching the Kookaburras to success at the 2014 Hockey World Cup in Netherlands, he resigned.

Politics

He was elected as the Federal Member for Perth in 1983, representing the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms ...

, and was a Member of Parliament for 10 years until retiring in 1993. Charlesworth said one reason for retiring from Parliament was that he never became a minister.

Administration

Charlesworth was a member of the Australian Sports Commission Board 1994–97 and Western Australian Institute of Sport Board 1984–1992, 2001–2005.

Books

He has written three books: ''The Coach – Managing for Success'', ''Staying at the Top'' and ''Shakespeare the Coach''.

Awards

*Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1976, 1979 and 1987 *Advance Australia Award in 1984 *Member 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 Go ...

(AM) in the

1987 Queen's Birthday Honours Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in suppl ...

Officer 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 Go ...

(AO) in the

2016 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

*Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 * Hockey Australia Hall of Fame 2008 *Hall of Champions, WA 1995 *West Australian Sports Champions of the Year Award – Coach of the Year 1994–2000 *Australian Coaching Council Team Coach of the Year 1994, 1996, 1997,1998,1999,2000 *Confederation of Australian Sport Coach of the Year 1996, 1997 and 2000 *

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

2000It's an Honour: Australian Sports Medal
. Itsanhonour.gov.au. Retrieved on 2012-05-02. *Western Australia Citizen of the Year Award 2001 *Western Australian Finalist Australian of the Year 2011 *

Coach of the Year 2010 *Inaugural

World's Best Award 2014

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlesworth, Ric 1952 births Australian male field hockey players Australian cricket coaches Australian field hockey coaches Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Perth Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Olympic field hockey players of Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia University of Western Australia alumni Western Australia cricketers Women's field hockey in Australia People educated at Christ Church Grammar School Australian sportsperson-politicians Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players from Perth, Western Australia Australian cricketers Australian Olympic coaches Field hockey players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Cricketers from Western Australia Australian Institute of Sport coaches Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Australian medical doctors Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics 20th-century Australian politicians