Scott Robert Gourley (born 18 July 1968) is an Australian former

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 11 ...

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 it ...

footballer who played from 1986-1998 and achieved the status of a dual-code international representing his country in both sports. He made five Test appearances for the Wallabies and switched to rugby league in 1990 playing for 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 ...

, the

Sydney Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won fifteen Ne ...

and making one Test appearance for the

Kangaroos Kangaroos are four 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 gre ...

Background

Gourley was born in

Hornsby, New South Wales Hornsby is a suburb in the Northern Sydney region, or Upper North Shore of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia, approximately north-west of the Sydney central business district. It is the administrative centre of the local gove ...

, Australia, raised in Narrabri and attended Narrabri High School. Gourley at Classic Wallabies
/ref> He studied economics at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

. He is of Irish descent through his father, the former Irish rugby union international

Robin Gourley Robin Edward Gourley (19 November 1935 – 19 July 2021) was a Northern Irish-Australian professional rugby league and rugby union footballer who played in the 1950s and 1960s. A New South Wales representative front row forward, he played in t ...

, who played in the winning St George rugby league premiership winning sides of 1965 and 1966.

Rugby union career

Before moving to Sydney, Gourley captained the Australian Schoolboys rugby union side on their 1986 tour of New Zealand. His Sydney club rugby was played with the Eastwood RUFC. He was selected for the 1988 Australia rugby union tour of England, Scotland and Italy and made his Test debut for the Wallabies against Scotland at Murrayfield scoring a try on debut. He played a Test against Italy on that same tour.He earned five international rugby union Test caps between 1988 and 1989 as a flanker. He was a prominent member of the side, with some fearsome displays of running against the touring British Lions in 1989. Gourley is remembered for a magnificent

try Try or TRY may refer to: Music Albums * ''Try!'', an album by the John Mayer Trio * ''Try'' (Bebo Norman album) (2014) Songs * "Try" (Blue Rodeo song) (1987) * "Try" (Colbie Caillat song) (2014) * "Try" (Nelly Furtado song) (2004) * " Try (Ju ...

scored in the first Test of that series at the Sydney Football Stadium, running through several tacklers to cross the line at the northern end of the ground.

Rugby league career

Switching to rugby league in 1990, Gourley joined the

where his father had played. Scott played 128 games for the Dragons from 1990–1996 including being in three losing grand final sides: 1992 and 1993 against 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 c ...

, and 1996 against Manly. In 1997, he joined the

and played 45 matches in his two seasons at the club. Gourley at the RL Project
/ref> Gourley represented Australia in 1991 in a Test series against

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

. His international rugby league debut in the first Test against PNG in

Goroka Goroka is the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. It is a town of approximately 19,000 people (2000), above sea level. It has an airport (in the centre of town) and is on the " Highlands Highway", about 285 km from ...

saw him become Australia's 39th

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

, following

Ricky Stuart Ricky John Stuart (born 7 January 1967) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach who is the head coach of the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and a former rugby league footballer who played as a in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. H ...

and preceding Andrew Walker. He is the last Australian dual-code international to have debuted in rugby league following a rugby union representative career. All others since have made the converse switch. In addition to representing Australia, he was selected for

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 ...

in one

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

match in 1993.

Personal

Following his retirement in 1998, Gourley became a private investor. In a 2011 interview he confirmed that due to his wife's business career he'd chosen to be a stay-at-home father for his three children whilst managing personal share market and real estate investments. NRL Where Are They Now ?
/ref>

Footnotes

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gourley, Scott 1968 births Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Country New South Wales Origin rugby league team players Dual-code rugby internationals Living people New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players St. George Dragons players Sydney Roosters players Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union locks