Michael Antony Fitzgerald (born 30 March 1955) is an Australian former

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player. Fitzgerald was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and educated at Monaro High School in the town of

Cooma Cooma is a town in the south of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south of the national capital, Canberra, via the Monaro Highway. It is also on the Snowy Mountains Highway, connecting Bega, New South Wales, Bega with the Riverina. ...

. He played under-age representative rugby for the ACT and after leaving school moved to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

, where he competed for Waratah. A fullback, Fitzgerald was in the New South Wales Country XV that beating the touring 1975 England national team, before gaining full state honours for their fixture against Queensland. A member of the 1975–76 Wallabies squad, Fitzgerald was one of three fullbacks chosen for a tour of Great Britain, Ireland and the United States, while still only 20 years of age. He was due to play the first match of the tour against

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

until straining his hamstring during training and instead got rested. His debut in Wallabies colours came against

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

in Belfast and he had the team's kicking duties, converting all four tries. He broke down with another leg injury in his next match and was ruled out for the remainder of the tour. Fitzgerald returned to England in 1977 to play rugby with London club

Wasps A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder. Th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Michael 1955 births Living people Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Wasps RFC players Sportspeople from Cooma Rugby union players from New South Wales Rugby union fullbacks New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen