Peter "Pedro" Gallagher (1937–2003) was an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer. He was a front-row forward for the Australian national team. He played in 17 Tests between 1963 and 1968 as captain on 1 occasion. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Early life

Hickey was born in Townsville, Australia. He was educated at St Edmund's College, Ipswich from 1950 to 1955.

Playing career

Born in

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Gallagher played his entire Brisbane Rugby League premiership first grade career of 11 seasons with the

Brothers A brother (: brothers or brethren) is a man or boy who shares one or more parents with another; a male sibling. The female counterpart is a sister. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingl ...

club. He first represented

at age 25 in 1962 and then regularly over the next 5 years making 12 appearances against

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

as well as 5 appearances against touring international sides. Gallagher made his Test debut against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in the first Test of the 1963 series in Sydney and played in all five domestic Tests that year against New Zealand and

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. At the end of that year he was selected for the 1963 Kangaroo Tour of England and France. He played in 3 Tests and 18 minor tour matches. In 1967 after recovering from a knee injury he returned to the national side for all three Tests against New Zealand. He made his 2nd Kangaroo Tour of England in 1967-68 and played in 10 tour matches and 6 Tests. He made his sole appearance as captain of the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey ...

in the 2nd Test in London in November 1967.

After football

In retirement he was heavily involved in the Queensland Racing Industry. He was Vice Chairman of the

Gold Coast Turf Club Gold Coast Turf Club is an Australian horse racing organization based in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia. Race track The racecourse holds numerous Thoroughbred racehorse meetings each year. The feature event is the annual Gold Coast Cu ...

for ten years and then chairman for a further five years. He was a driving force behind the Magic Millions Racing Carnival. He succumbed to cancer aged 66. In February 2008, Gallagher was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
Peter Gallagher at rugbyleagueproject.comQueensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gallagher, Peter 1937 births 2003 deaths Australian rugby league players Australia national rugby league team players Past Brothers players Australia national rugby league team captains Rugby league props Rugby league players from Townsville People educated at St Edmund's College, Ipswich 20th-century Australian sportsmen