Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Andrew McLaren Norval | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1912-04-26)26 April 1912 Hindmarsh,South Australia, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 16 May 1999(1999-05-16) (aged 87) Epping,New South Wales,Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Lock | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Andrew McLaren Norval (26 April 1912 – 16 May 1999) was an Australian professionalrugby league footballer, anational andstate representative lock-forward whose club career was with Sydney'sEastern Suburbs club.
Born inSouth Australia, where, as a youth, he playedAustralian rules football, Norval began his rugby league career in theNewcastle competition before moving toSydney where he played 106 matches with theEastern Suburbs club in the years (1934–41). Norval alock played an integral role in an Eastern Suburbs sides that swept all before them during that period, winning 4 premierships as well as finishing runners-up on three other occasions.
Norval formed part of Easts' international forward pack alongsideRay Stehr,Harry Pierce andJoe Pearce.
Norval played five matches forNew South Wales. He was selected on the 1937-38Kangaroo tour playing in three Tests and twelve touring matches. Hisinternational debut was on the wing in the third Test against Great Britain and he played in that position in both Tests on the French leg of the tour. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 215. Norval is to date the only person to have been born inSouth Australia to play Test match rugby league.[1]
Teammate,Dick Dunn, described Norval as the best player he had seen since beginning his first grade career in 1935.
In February 2008, Norval was named in the list of Australia's100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by theNRL andARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[2][3] He has also been selected in Eastern Suburbs "Greatest-ever" team.
In 2010 Norval was named in a South Newcastle team of the century.[4]