Bortolo "Tas" Baitieri (born 17 September 1958) 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 1970s and 1980s, 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 and 1990s. He played for the

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the western Sydney suburb of Penrith that competes in the NRL. The team is based west of the centre of Sydney, at the foot of the Blue Mountains. Penrith ...

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilita ...

in Australia and Paris Châtillon XIII in France. He was later the coach of the French national side.

Playing career

Playing in the forwards, Baitieri played with the

and the

in Australia, spending the off-seasons in France playing for Paris Châtillon XIII.

Coaching career

Baitieri was appointed as coach of the French national side in 1985. He was dismissed from the role in 1987 amid economic issues for the

French Rugby League Federation The French Rugby League Federation (french: Fédération Française de Rugby à XIII (FFR)) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league football in France. The Federation was formed during 1934 and since then has organised and governed th ...

. Several years later, Baitieri returned to Australia and coached and

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

ed the Cumberland College of Health Sciences (now a faculty of the University of Sydney) Rugby League team in the NSW University Rugby League Competition. The Cumberland side won the 1991 2nd division grandfinal (defeating the University of Newcastle) in their first season under Baitieri and the side was subsequently elevated to the first division where the "Cumbo Cunnies" finished grand finalists in their first season in the top division. At the end of season 1991, The Cumberland Rugby League Club announced that the Best & Fairest player award would be renamed and called the Tas Baitieri shield in recognition of the efforts and leadership by Baitieri toward his young charges and the esteem in which he was held by players.

Administration and development roles

In 1985, Baitieri attended the RLIB meeting in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

as a translator for

chairman . In 1993, Baitieri was appointed as

Victoria Rugby League NRL Victoria (abbreviated as NRLVic, and formerly the Victorian Rugby League) is responsible for administering the game of rugby league in the Australian state of Victoria. Victoria is an Affiliated State of the overall Australian governing body t ...

's development officer by the

Australian Rugby League The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARL), formerly the Australian Rugby Football League known as the Australian Rugby League is an Australian rugby league football competition operator. It was founded in 1986 as the Australian Rugby Footbal ...

. Baitieri was the chief executive of the short-lived French

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

club,

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

. In 1998, Baitieri refereed a match between and , both playing in their first ever international. He is also a development officer for the

Rugby League International Federation The International Rugby League (IRL) is the global governing body for the sport of rugby league football. Previously known as the ''Rugby League Imperial Board'', the '' International Rugby League Board'' and latterly the ''Rugby League Internat ...

. Baitieri was a development officer for 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 ...

until he was made redundant in 2020. In 2022, Baitieri was the team manager of the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

at the

2021 Rugby League World Cup The 2021 Rugby League World Cup (RLWC2021) was a collection of world cups in the sport of rugby league, held in England from 15 October to 19 November 2022. England won hosting rights for the competition on 27 October 2016. The bid received £2 ...

Personal life

Baitieri's son,

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

, is also a professional rugby league footballer.

References

External links

Bulldogs profile
1958 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Australian rugby league players Australian people of Italian descent Penrith Panthers players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Australian rugby league coaches France national rugby league team coaches Australian rugby league administrators Rugby league second-rows Rugby league props {{France-rugbyleague-bio-stub