Bob McCarthy
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Bob McCarthy
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
(born 5 August 1946) 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 and coach. He played for the
South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional 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 pla ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
and for the
Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...
national side. He later coached in Brisbane, taking
Souths Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...
to a premiership in 1981 and coaching the
Gold Coast-Tweed Giants The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from 1988 to 1994, the Australian Rugby League premiership from 1995 to 1997, and the National Rugby League premiership ...
upon their entry to the
Winfield Cup The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Fin ...
. Since 2001 he has been the chairman of both the Australian and NSW state selection panels.


Biography


Career highlights

A fast and strong McCarthy played 10 tests for Australia and five matches in two World Cups. He made the 1973
Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...
and two tours of New Zealand. He played 211 first grade games for Souths (1963–1975 and 1978), scoring 100 tries. He played in three grand final victories (1967, 1970 and 1971) and in two losing grand finals (1965 and 1969).


Club career

Born in inner city
Surry Hills, New South Wales Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surround ...
in Sydney, McCarthy was a South Sydney junior with the Moore Park Club and made his first grade debut in 1963. In 1965 he was in the team of young Rabbitohs who challenged
St George Saint George (Greek language, Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin language, Latin: Georgius, Arabic language, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christians, Christian who is venerated as a sa ...
in the
Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...
in front of a record breaking crowd of 78,065 at the
Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...
. Along with McCarthy the nucleus of this side was John O'Neill,
Ron Coote Ron Coote AM (born 1944) is an Australian former representative rugby league player whose club career was played with South Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, with both of whom he won premierships. He is considered one of the nation's fi ...
, Eric Simms,
Mike Cleary Mike Cleary (May 19, 1858 in County Laois, Ireland – September 5, 1893 in Belfast, New York) was an Irish-American boxer. Cleary was born in County Laois, and emigrated to the United States. He was known as a quick and "scrappy" fight ...
and
John Sattler John William Sattler (born 28 July 1942) is a former professional and national representative rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a rugged Prop forward who captained his club, South Sydney to four premiership vi ...
who went on to feature in Australian representative teams for the next six years and who would help create a golden period for South Sydney at the end of the 1960s, and in the early years of the next decade. The advent of the four tackle rule in 1967 was tailor-made for the athletic, barrel-chested McCarthy and his coach
Clive Churchill Clive Bernard Churchill AM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach in the mid-20th century. An Australian international and New South Wales and Queensland interstate representative ...
gave him license to stand wide in attack to make best use of his tank-like charges. One of the most spectacular tries in Grand Final history came from such positional play when just before halftime in the 1967 decider against
Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...
McCarthy intercepted a pass out wide from Canterbury hooker Col Brown and ran the length of the field to score and to take the Rabbitohs to a two-point lead which they didn't give up by game's end. He missed Souths 1968 Grand Final victory, played in the 1969 loss to the
Balmain Tigers The Balmain Tigers (also known as the Sydney Tigers from 1995–96) are a rugby league club based in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Balmain. They were a founding member of the New South Wales Rugby League and one of the most successful in t ...
and was a member of the 1970 and 1971 premiership sides. It was primarily McCarthy's retribution which saw Manly's John Bucknell leave the field before half-time in the 1970 Grand Final after Bucknell had earlier broken the jaw of Souths captain
John Sattler John William Sattler (born 28 July 1942) is a former professional and national representative rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a rugged Prop forward who captained his club, South Sydney to four premiership vi ...
and the Souths forwards had regrouped to protect and avenge their
captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
. In the 1971 Grand Final against St George
Ron Coote Ron Coote AM (born 1944) is an Australian former representative rugby league player whose club career was played with South Sydney and the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, with both of whom he won premierships. He is considered one of the nation's fi ...
made a break and passed to McCarthy who raced away to score under the posts to seal Souths 16–10 Grand Final win. In 1975 McCarthy became only the second forward in the history of the game after
Frank Burge Frank Burge (14 August 1894 – 5 July 1958) was one of the greatest forwards in the history of rugby league in Australia. Later Burge became one of the game’s finest coaches. His club career was with Glebe and the St. George Dragons. He repr ...
to surpass the 100 career try tally. McCarthy moved to Canterbury for the 1976 and 1977 seasons where he played at Prop forward and played 37 games for the club helping them to the semi-finals in 1976. He returned to the Rabbitohs in 1978 to finish his career in a brief five-game season ended by injury.


Representative career

Bobby McCarthy first tasted representative football in 1964 scoring two tries for a New South Wales Colts side against a touring French team. He had to wait until the 1969 tour of
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 ...
before he made a national senior squad but thereafter, for the next five years barring injury, he was one of the first players selected for Test and
World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...
squads. He played in both Tests of the 1969 New Zealand tour. In the 1970 domestic Ashes series against Great Britain he appeared in the third Test and later that year in the World Cup in England where he played in all four of Australia's games including the victorious final. He played three Tests in 1971–72 against New Zealand and appeared in one match in the 1972 World Cup in which campaign he was competing for the second row spots with his club teammates
Paul Sait Paul Joseph Sait (born 4 September 1947) is a former Australian rugby league footballer and coach. A versatile or running forward who played in the 1960s and 1970s for South Sydney. He made 7 Test appearances for the Australian national repr ...
and Gary Stevens. McCarthy was named as vice-captain to
Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. and coached in the 1970s. He retire ...
on the '73
Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australian national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours to ...
and his sole honour as Australia's Test captain was in the vital second Test in Leeds which the Kangaroos needed to win to keep the series alive. McCarthy scored a try early in the second half to help win the game but on the frozen ground he dislocated his shoulder in the process and his tour was over. He scored three tries in his two Test and 4 minor tour match appearances but had played a pivotal role in Australia's successful Ashes campaign. In 1974 Test series at home against Great Britain, McCarthy was selected in the deciding 3rd game in a veteran pack including his old Souths teammates Coote, Stevens, and John O'Neill and captained and coached by Langlands. The old war-horses won the match 22–18 to retain the Ashes and McCarthy was one of the players who chaired Langlands from the field and who along with eight others were unknowingly making their farewell Test appearance.


Accolades

He was honoured with his
MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...
in 1977 for services to rugby league, only the second player after Langlands to be so honoured while still playing. In 2004 he was named by Souths in their ''South Sydney Dream Team'', consisting of 17 players and a coach representing the club from 1908 through to
2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...
. In February 2008, McCarthy was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the
NRL 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 ...
and
ARL ARL may refer to: Military * US Navy hull classification symbol for repair ship * Admiralty Research Laboratory, UK * United States Army Research Laboratory * ARL 44, a WWII French tank Organizations * Aero Research Limited, a UK adhesives comp ...
to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.


Post-playing

McCarthy commenced coaching with Brisbane Souths in 1980 taking them to the
Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Queen ...
Grand Final that year and to premiership victory in 1981. He coached the
Brisbane rugby league team The Brisbane Rugby League team, also called Brisbane Firsts or Combined Brisbane or Brisbane Capitals, was an Australian representative rugby league football side made up of players from the Brisbane Rugby League's first-grade premiership club ...
to victory in the 1984 Panasonic Cup. McCarthy was the inaugural coach of the
Gold Coast Seagulls The Gold Coast Chargers were a professional rugby league club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership from New South Wales Rugby League season 1988, 1988 to New South Wales Rugby League season 1994, 1994, the Australian Ru ...
in 1988 and for that club's first three seasons. In 1994, he was briefly the coach of the South Sydney before he stood aside for health reasons. McCarthy coached Souths to their upset 1994
Tooheys Challenge Cup The Tooheys Challenge Cup (subsequently known by various other sponsors' names including the Network 10, Channel Ten Challenge Cup, Lotteries in Australia, Lotto Challenge Cup and Tooheys Brewery, Tooheys Challenge Cup) was a Pre-season knockout r ...
final victory over
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
. Since 2001, he has been the chairman of both the Australian and
NSW ) , 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 ...
State of Origin selection panels.


1st Grade matches played


Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney


Footnotes


External links


Canterbury Bulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Bob 1946 births Living people Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Brisbane rugby league team coaches Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Gold Coast Chargers coaches Members of the Order of the British Empire New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league second-rows South Sydney Rabbitohs captains South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches South Sydney Rabbitohs players