Vernon Andrew Neville Bakalich (8 July 1929 – 21 November 2015) was a New Zealand

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 ...

player who represented

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the 1957 World Cup.

Playing career

Bakalich played for

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

in the

Auckland Rugby League The Auckland Rugby League (ARL) is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It is responsible for rugby league in the region, including both club and school rugby league. It began in 1910 when the fi ...

competition and was an

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

representative. He was first selected for the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team (Māori: Tīma rīki motu Aotearoa) has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the native bird of ...

in 1953 in a test series against

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 ...

. Bakalich played in the 1954 test series against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

but was not selected for the inaugural World Cup later that year. In 1955 Bakalich returned to the side, touring Great Britain and France. Bakalich scored a then record twenty six tries in 30 games while on tour.Coffey, John and Bernie Wood ''Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009'', 2009. . He toured Australia in 1956 and was part of the squad for the 1957 World Cup. His last appearance for the Kiwis was 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 ...

in 1958. In total he played in 42 games for New Zealand, including in 13 tests between 1954 and 1957. In his final game for Auckland, in 1958, he scored a length-of-the-field try against the touring Great Britain side.

Legacy

In 2013 he was named on the wing in the Richmond rugby league club's team of the century. He died on 21 November 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakalich, Vern 1929 births 2015 deaths 20th-century New Zealand people Auckland rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Place of birth missing Richmond Bulldogs players Rugby league players from Auckland Rugby league wingers