William Carne (born 23 January 1969) is an Australian former
rugby football
Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union and rugby league.
Canadian football and, to a lesser extent, American football were once considered forms of rugby football, but are seldom now referred to as such. The ...
er who played
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 ...
for the
Brisbane Broncos
The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...
from 1990 to 1996, as well as representing both
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
and
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 ...
and
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
for the
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...
. An attacking player with dangerous speed, he played at and .
Early years
Carne attended
Ipswich Grammar School
, motto_translation = Work and Honour
, address = Darling Street
, city = Ipswich
, state = Queensland
, postcode = 4305
, country = Australia
, coordinates =
, type = Independent, single-sex, day & b ...
, of which former Brisbane Broncos
Kevin Walters
Kevin David Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the Head Coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a premiership-winning ...
,
Kerrod Walters
Kerrod Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian former rugby league footballer. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , he played most of his club football with the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he won the ...
and
Steve Walters are also Alumni. In his younger days, Carne played for the Roma Wattles.
Brisbane Broncos career
In
1990
File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...
he played his first season with the Brisbane Broncos' and that year he co-won the club's rookie of the year with giant fullback
Paul Hauff
Paul Hauff (born 9 May 1970) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s. A Queensland State of Origin and Australian international representative , he played his whole top-level career in Australia for ...
, as well as being the club's top try-scorer with 15.
He played for the Brisbane Broncos in the
1992 NSWRL season
The 1992 New South Wales Rugby League Premiership season was the eighty-fifth season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen teams competed for the J.J. Giltinan Shield during the season which culminated in a grand final for ...
's grand final against the
St. George Dragons
The St. George Dragons is an Australian rugby league football club from St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales competition and Australian Rugby League competitions from the 1921 until th ...
, which they won. A week after winning the
1992 Rugby League World Cup Final
The 1992 Rugby League World Cup final was the conclusive game of the 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup tournament and was played between Great Britain and Australia on 24 October 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Australia won the fina ...
, Carne played for the Broncos on the wing in the
1992 World Club Challenge
The 1992 World Club Challenge match was contested by the 1991–92 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan and the 1992 NSWRL season's premiers, the Brisbane Broncos. The match took place on Friday night, 30 October in England, during the 1 ...
against British champions
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
, with Brisbane winning 22–8 to become the first Australian club to win the match in Britain.
Carne was the
Broncos
A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock.
The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...
' top try scorer in
1993
File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...
, crossing the line for 17 tries, and enjoyed back-to-back premierships, playing on the wing in the Grand Final victory, again over St. George.
During the
1994 NSWRL season
The 1994 NSWRL season (known as the 1994 Winfield Cup Premiership due to sponsorship from Winfield) was the eighty-seventh season of professional rugby league football in Australia. Sixteen clubs, including 14 from within the borders of New South ...
, Carne played at fullback (after being named on the wing) for the defending premiers Brisbane when they hosted British champions
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...
for the
1994 World Club Challenge
The 1994 MMI World Club Challenge was a replay of the 1992 World Club Challenge, with 1993–94 Rugby Football League season champions Wigan facing the 1993 NSWRL season premiers, the Brisbane Broncos, this time in Australia. Wigan were clearl ...
. In front of a record
World Club Challenge
The World Club Challenge is an annual rugby league competition between the winners of the Australasian National Rugby League (NRL) and the European Super League, for the de facto club world championship of the sport. The first such match was pl ...
crowd of 54,220 at the
ANZ Stadium
ANZ may refer to:
People
* Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician
Banks
* ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia
** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand
...
in Brisbane, Wigan won 20–14.
Carne moved back to his favoured wing position in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...
and scored 8 tries in 20 games. 1995 was the season dominated by the
Super League war
The Super League war was a commercial competition between the Australian Rugby League (ARL) and the Australian Super League to establish pre-eminence in professional rugby league competition in Australia and New Zealand in the mid-1990s.
Super ...
with Carne, like the majority of his Brisbane teammates, signing with the rebel
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 ...
.
In his final season for the Broncos in 1996, Carne assumed the position of the club's goal-kicker and played most of the season at fullback. Carne was the top point-scorer for Brisbane with 146 points that year from 59 goals and 7 tries.
[
Carne played a total of 136 first-grade games for the Broncos. He crossed for 73 tries and kicked 63 goals from 103 attempts (61.17%).][
In 2007, Carne was inducted into the Broncos' official Hall of Fame.
]
Representative career
Carne made his State of Origin debut for Queensland in the third match of 1990 series.
Carne made his test début for 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 ...
in the second test of the 1991 Trans-Tasman Test series against 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 ...
at the Sydney Football Stadium
The Sydney Football Stadium, commercially known as Allianz Stadium and previously Aussie Stadium, was a football stadium in Moore Park, Sydney, Australia. Built in 1988 next to the Sydney Cricket Ground, the stadium was Sydney's premier rect ...
. He crossed for a try as Australia defeated New Zealand 44–0. He subsequently retained his spot in the team for the final test at Lang Park in Brisbane, crossing for two tries. At the end of the 1991 season
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, 1991 Russian presidential election, elected as Russia's first President of Russia, president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated ...
, Carne toured
''Toured (A Live Album)'' was a live album by Huntington Beach pop punk band Big Drill Car. The concert was recorded live at New York's CBGB's on September 3, 1991, at the beginning of a nineteen-week tour known as ''The Batch World Tour'', in su ...
Papua New Guinea with the Kangaroos, scoring 3 tries in each of the two tests against the Papua New Guinea Kumuls
The Papua New Guinea national rugby league team represents Papua New Guinea in the sport of rugby league football.
In Papua New Guinea, Rugby League is a highly popular sport and is regarded as the country's national sport. The national side ar ...
and finished the 5 game tour as the leading try scorer with 8 and the equal top point scorer (with Gary Belcher
Gary Belcher (born 28 May 1962) is an Australian rugby league football commentator and former player. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative, he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership f ...
) with 32.[
In 1992, he played for Queensland in Game 1 of their 2-1 ]Origin series
The War of the Roses, (also known in its last years as the County of Origin Series) was the inter-county rugby league matches between representative teams from Yorkshire and Lancashire, the areas where rugby league has traditionally been most ...
loss to 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 ...
. Carne missed Games 2 and 3 of the Origin series and this kept him out of the Australian side for the first two Ashes series
The Ashes is a Test cricket series played between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, its first Te ...
tests against the touring Great Britain Lions
The Great Britain national rugby league team represents Great Britain in rugby league. Administered by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the team is nicknamed The Lions.
For most of the 20th century, the Great Britain team toured overseas, ...
. However, after an injury to Rod Wishart
Rod Wishart (born 15 October 1968) is an Australians, Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played the 1980s and 1990s. A New South Wales state rugby league team, New South Wales State of Origin series, State of Origin and ...
he was re-called for the third test at Lang Park where Australia retained The Ashes with a 16–10 win. With Andrew Ettingshausen unavailable through injury, Carne then played fullback for Australia in their 36–12 win over Papua New Guinea in Townsville
Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 3 ...
where he scored his 7th test try against the Kumuls in just 3 tests.
At the end of 1992, Carne travelled to England where he and Broncos teammate Michael Hancock were selected as the Australian wingers in their 1992 Rugby League World Cup Final
The 1992 Rugby League World Cup final was the conclusive game of the 1989–1992 Rugby League World Cup tournament and was played between Great Britain and Australia on 24 October 1992 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Australia won the fina ...
victory over Great Britain at London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
's Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...
. He was one of seven Broncos players in the Australian side on the day with the others being Hancock, Renouf, Langer, forward Glenn Lazarus
Glenn Patrick Lazarus (born 11 December 1965) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, and a former Australian Senator. An Australian international and New South Wales State of Origin representative , Lazarus won premier ...
and replacements Kevin Walters
Kevin David Walters (born 20 October 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the Head Coach of the Brisbane Broncos in the NRL and a former professional rugby league footballer who played as a premiership-winning ...
and Chris Johns (who did not get off the reserves bench during the Final).
Carne was named man-of-the-match in the opening game of the 1994 State of Origin series
The 1994 State of Origin series saw the 13th year that the annual three-game series between the Queensland and New South Wales representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under 'state of origin' selection rules. Mark Coyne ...
at the Sydney Football Stadium. However, injury kept him out of Australia's record 58–0 win over the touring French at Parramatta Stadium
Parramatta Stadium was a sports stadium in Parramatta, New South Wales, Australia, 23 kilometres west of Sydney's central business district. The stadium was the home ground of several western Sydney-based sports teams, at the time of closure t ...
, while a late season foot injury would ultimately see him ruled him out of selection for the 1994 Kangaroo Tour The 1994 Kangaroo Tour was the 18th and last Kangaroo Tour played in the conventional format, where the Australia national rugby league team (known as the XXXX Kangaroos due to sponsorship reasons) played a number of matches against British and Fre ...
.
Due to being a Super League aligned player, Carne was ruled ineligible for representative games 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 ...
in 1995 which saw him miss that years Origin series
The War of the Roses, (also known in its last years as the County of Origin Series) was the inter-county rugby league matches between representative teams from Yorkshire and Lancashire, the areas where rugby league has traditionally been most ...
and international games.
Rugby union
Carne subsequently defected to rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...
, making his debut in a Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competition ...
trial match in 1997. Although his opening performance was described by coach John Connolly as 'a pass' , Carne struggled in rugby unio
and was unable to secure a place in the Reds's regular line-up. Later that season he retired from professional sport altogether.
Post playing career
In 2000, Carne was awarded an 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 ...
.
Carne is now a real estate agent on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
The Sunshine Coast is a peri-urban region in South East Queensland, Australia. It is the district defined in 1967 as "the area contained in the Shires of Landsborough, Maroochy and Noosa, but excluding Bribie Island". Located north of the ce ...
.
Wardsman in a Brisbane hospital
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carne, Willie
1969 births
People from Roma, Queensland
Rugby league players from Queensland
Brisbane Broncos players
Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players
Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal
Living people
Rugby league wingers
Australia national rugby league team players
Rugby league fullbacks
Australian rugby union players
Queensland Reds players