Clive Bernard Churchill AM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was an

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 ...

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 in the mid-20th century. An

international and

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

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_ ...

interstate representative , he played the majority of his club football with and later coached the

South Sydney Rabbitohs The South Sydney Rabbitohs are a professional Australian rugby league club based in Redfern, a suburb of inner-southern Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and are one of nine existing tea ...

. He won five premierships with the club as a player and three more as coach. Retiring as the most capped Australian Kangaroos player ever, Churchill is thus considered one of the game's greatest ever players and the prestigious

Clive Churchill Medal The Clive Churchill Medal is the award given to the player judged to be man-of-the-match in the National Rugby League's annual Grand Final. The award was created to honour Clive Churchill, one of the greatest rugby league players in Australian ...

for man-of-the-match in 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 ...

grand final bears his name. Churchill's attacking flair as a player is credited with having changed the role of the .

Background

Clive Churchill was born in

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...

, and was a star schoolboy at

Marist Brothers The Marist Brothers of the Schools, commonly known as simply the Marist Brothers, is an international community of Catholic religious institute of brothers. In 1817, St. Marcellin Champagnat, a Marist priest from France, founded the Marist Brothe ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilt ...

, where he won five premierships while at school. The brothers at his school banned him from playing with Central Newcastle juniors and as a result he only appeared for them a handful of times.

Playing career

In 1946 Churchill was graded with Central in the

Newcastle Rugby League The Newcastle Rugby League is a local rugby league football competition in Newcastle, Australia. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1910. A Newcastle representative team was also assembled from players in ...

competition as a . He represented for

Country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

Seconds in 1946 and came to the attention of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

talent scouts. He was signed to South Sydney by their patron

Dave Spring Dave may refer to: Film, television, and theater * ''Dave'' (film), a 1993 film starring Kevin Kline and Sigourney Weaver * ''Dave'' (musical), a 2018 stage musical adaptation of the film * Dave (TV channel), a digital television channel in the ...

and moved to Sydney at the start of the 1947 season. Like many top Australian players, Churchill attracted the attention of English clubs, and was signed by

Workington Town Workington Town R.L.F.C. is a semi-professional rugby league club playing in Workington in west Cumbria. Their stadium is Derwent Park, which they share with Workington Comets, a speedway team. They became Rugby League Champions in 1951 and ...

for £10,000.See Chesterton, Ray; ''Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright: The Story of the Balmain Rugby League Club'', p. 111 However, an international transfer ban imposed by the ARL in 1948 meant Churchill had to stay in Sydney. Under captain-coach

Jack Rayner Rupert John Raynor (11 April 1921 – 17 May 2008) was an Australian state and national representative rugby league player and NSWRFL coach. His club playing career was with the South Sydney Rabbitohs from 1946 to 1957 and he also represented ...

, South Sydney reached the 1949 season's grand final against St. George and Churchill played at fullback in the Rabbitohs' loss. Souths reached the grand final again the following season, this time against Western Suburbs, and Churchill played fullback in the Rabbitohs' victory. Nicknamed "The Little Master" Churchill was selected to captain Sydney's representative team when they hosted

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 ...

during the 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand. The match ended in a 19–all draw. At the end of the 1951 season South Sydney reached their third consecutive grand final, this time against

Manly-Warringah The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. The team colours are maroon and white, while their namesake and logo is the sea eagle. They compete in Australia's premier rugb ...

and Churchill played at fullback, scoring a try in the Rabbitohs' second consecutive victory. Churchill missed South Sydney's fourth consecutive grand final in 1952 as he was away on the

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 ...

to England. South Sydney reached the 1953 season's premiership final, their fifth in succession, and Churchill played at fullback, kicking a goal in the Rabbitohs' victory over St. George. Souths won the 1953 premiership without the need to play a grand final, but this would be the last time such an outcome was possible with the mandating of a grand final to determine the premiership from the following season onward. At the 1954 Rugby League World Cup, the first ever rugby football world cup, Churchill captained the Australian team, however they failed to reach the final. He would play for the Rabbitohs as they defeated Newtown 23–15 in the first mandatory grand final in 1954. Churchill played Souths' second last regular game of the 1955 season against Manly with a broken arm, winning the game with a successful sideline conversion kicked after the full-time bell with his broken arm wrapped in cardboard. However he was forced to miss the finals in 1955 due to injury. Churchill played his final Test for Australia on the 1956–57 Kangaroo tour. He captained South Sydney in 1957 and captained-coached them in 1958, which would prove his last season playing for the Rabbitohs. Churchill spent twelve seasons at Redfern, playing 164 games and winning five premierships: 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955. In 1959 Churchill captain-coached

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 ...

club Norths to a premiership, and was also selected as captain-coach for the Queensland team. He retired from playing at the end of that season, but in 1961 he played a swansong season in the northwestern town of

Moree, New South Wales Moree is a town in Moree Plains Shire in northern New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the banks of the Mehi River, in the centre of the rich black-soil plains. The town is located at the junction of the Newell Highway and Gwydir Highway ...

. Churchill had played 34 Tests for Australia and the 1954 World Cup series. He captained Australia in 24 Test matches over a period of six years which including three series against Great Britain. He also played 37 games for New South Wales the standing record for most games by a player for the state.

Coaching career

Churchill, widely renowned for his coaching career, was appointed non-playing coach of the Australia national team for their 1959–60 Kangaroo tour. On the tour the Australians lost the Ashes series to Great Britain but won both test matches against France. Churchill commenced his NSWRFL Premiership coaching career with

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in the south-western suburbs. The area is located around the Bankstown railway line, to the west of the St George region and to the south of the Inner West region. The suburbs ...

in 1963. The club finished with the wooden spoon the following season and Churchill was replaced by

Eddie Burns Eddie Burns (16 January 1916 – 30 June 2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach of the mid 20th century. A New South Wales representative prop-forward, he played for the Canterbury-Bankstown club of the NSWRFL Premiership, l ...

. In 1967 Churchill was appointed coach of South Sydney. He had immediate success, Souths winning the premiership in his inaugural year as coach. He steered the South Sydney club to four premiership victories out of five grand final appearances between 1967 and 1971. Churchill resigned as coach of South Sydney during the 1975 season. Churchill also had success in coaching the Queensland and Australian teams. Churchill was also commemorated as one of Australia's most successful coaches.

Accolades

On 10 June 1985, Churchill was honoured as a 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 Gove ...

"in recognition of service to sport, particularly Rugby League Football and to the community". Also that year he was selected by the respected publication ''

Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor ''Big League''. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which ru ...

'' as one of the initial four post-war "

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" of the Australian game alongside

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, Raper and Gasnier. In 1986, the newly built Clive Churchill Stand at the Sydney Cricket Ground was named in his honour. He is one of six sportsmen and only two rugby league players to have a stand at the SCG named after him. The

has, since 1986, been awarded annually to the player judged best on ground in the season's

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. S ...

. A plaque in the Walk of Honour at the Sydney Cricket Ground commemorates his career as not only a great player but as an all-time great coach. In 2002, Churchill was inducted into the

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame The Australian Rugby LeaguHall of Fame'' honours players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian. It was officially established in 2002, ...

and was later named in the South Sydney team of the Century. In 2007, Churchill was selected by a panel of experts at fullback in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'. In February 2008, Churchill was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

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. Churchill went on to be named as fullback in Australian rugby league's ''

Team of the Century In team sport, team of the century and team of the decade are hypothetical best teams over a given time period. For the century team, it can be either 100 years, or for a century (always the 20th). Similarly the team of the decade can be for 10 ...

''. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.

References

External links