 Raper in 2008 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | John William Raper | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1939-04-12)12 April 1939 Camperdown,New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 9 February 2022(2022-02-09) (aged 82) Caringbah, New South Wales, Australia | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Lock | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Coaching information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source:[1] As of 1 August 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Ron Raper (brother) Maurie Raper (brother) Gerard Raper (brother) Peter Raper (brother) Aaron Raper (son) Stuart Raper (nephew) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John William RaperMBE (12 April 1939 – 9 February 2022) was an Australian professionalrugby league footballer and coach. Nicknamed "Chook", he was alock-forward who earned a then-record of 33 Test caps in theAustralia national team between 1959 and 1968. He also played sixWorld Cup games between 1960 and 1968.[2] Raper captained Australia on eight occasions from 1967 to 68 and played in eight consecutiveNSWRFL first-gradegrand final victories for theSt George Dragons club. He was named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.[3]
Raper was born inCamperdown and grew up inRevesby insouth-western Sydney in a working-class family with nine boys. He played his junior rugby league for the Camperdown Dragons before representing Newtown's President's Cup side in 1956.[4]
Raper joined and made his first grade debut forNewtown in 1957 as an eighteen-year-old.[5] Despite becoming a much lauded lock forward, in his 1957 debut season with the Newtown “Bluebags” (as the team was known then) Raper played in the second row in all of his first grade appearances except one when he played at five-eighth.[6] And throughout the 1958 season for Newtown first grade he played at five-eighth except for one game at centre and one game in the second row.[7] During the 1958 season he had his first taste of representative football against elite opposition when selected to play for combined Sydney against the visiting Great Britain team and then for New South Wales Colts against the British tourists. In both these representative games Raper played at lock forward and opposed one of the great locks of that era in Britain’sVince Karalius.[8]
In 1959 Raper joinedSt George as a lock forward and in this position he became an international rugby league star. His legendary cover defence and ball skills saw him acknowledged during his playing career as the best loose-forward the world had ever seen. He played in eightGrand final wins withSt George between 1959 and 1966.[2]
Raper attributed his success to a training discipline and fitness fanaticism that was ahead of its time. WhileSt George's early adoption of circuit training in the late 1950s was a major contributing factor in their eleven-year premiership run, Raper's own commitment to additional running and weights every day and often alone, enabled him to achieve a personal goal of being the fittest player in the fittest team in the competition.[9] In 1959–60 he made the first of his threeKangaroo tours, scoring a try on debut in the third Test loss vs Great Britain at Wigan. For the next ten years he was rarely, except for injury, out of the Australian Test team.
Raper's performance in the second Test of the 1963 tour at Swinton which saw the Kangaroos register the biggest win in Anglo-Australian Test history and become the first Australian touring team in fifty years to win theAshes was pivotal. In the 50–12 victory, Raper had a hand in the first seven tries in the opening 25-minute routing and he gave the final pass in four of them.[10]
In his third Kangaroo tour of 1967–68 Raper suffered a cheekbone fracture in the opening 16–11 Test loss causing him to miss the second Test won by Australia to keep the series alive. Captain-coachReg Gasnier had broken a leg in the first Test so Raper upon his return to fitness, was deputised and earned the ultimate Australianrugby league honour captaining his country in the 11–3 win over Great Britain played in icy conditions on a frozen ground in Swinton on 21 October 1967.
Raper went on to captain Australia in the first and third Tests against France in 1967–68. QueenslanderPeter "Pedro" Gallagher was the captain for the second Test when Raper was injured. For the 1968 World Cup Raper captained Australia in their four undefeated games of the tournament including the 20–2 victory against France in the final at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Raper's last season withSt. George was in 1969 as captain-coach. In 1969 he appeared as a guest player forAuckland in a match against theNew Zealand national rugby league team to mark theNew Zealand Rugby League's diamond jubilee.[11] Raper was awarded Life Membership of theSt. George Dragons Club in 1971.[12]
Raper played three seasons with theWestern Suburbs Rosellas in the Newcastle competition from 1970 to 1972. He captain coached the club and took them to victory in the 1970 grand final.[13] He finished his playing career with Kurri Kurri from 1973 to 1974.[2]
Point scoring summary
| Games | Tries | Goals | F/G | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 223 | 57 | 4 | – | 179 |
Raper returned to Sydney as coach of theCronulla-Sutherland Sharks in1975 and1976, commencing an association with that club later carried on by his sonsStuart andAaron. He also coached aLane Cove Rugby Union Club team to victory in theJudd Cup suburban competition in 1977.[14] After five games of the1978 NSWRFL season and internal turmoil leading to the resignation of first-grade coachPaul Broughton,[15] Raper took over as coach of theNewtown Jets in a caretaker capacity.
In retirement Raper for a time played a larger-than-life celebrity role: making a record, appearing in commercials for a tyre company and theLiberal party and as an in-demand speaker and guest on radio and TV talk shows. Much higher honours were to follow: an award of aMember of the Order of the British Empire; selection in 1985 as one of the initial four post-war "Immortals" of the Australian game withChurchill,Gasnier andFulton; appointment in 1988 as an Australian Test selector and representative of the New South Wales Rugby League. Raper was also inducted into theSport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985.[16]Always regarded as a larrikin in his playing days, Raper is now seen as one of Rugby League's most ardent ambassadors and senior statesmen. In 2000, his portrait was entered into theArchibald Prize.In 2002 Raper was inducted into theAustralian Rugby League Hall of Fame. In 2007 he was selected by a panel of experts at lock in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'.[17]
In February 2008, Raper 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.[18][19] Raper went on to be named as lock in Australian rugby league'sTeam of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.[20][21] While playing football, Raper also served in theNew South Wales Police Force and in 2008, rugby league's centenary year in Australia, he was named at lock-forward in a NSW Police team of the century. In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century also, and again Raper was named at lock.[22] Raper was named captain and second-row forward in theWestern Suburbs Rosellas’ team of the century.On 20 July 2022, Raper was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century at lock.[23]
Raper spent the last four years of his life in a nursing home, having been diagnosed with dementia. He died on 9 February 2022 inCaringbah, Sydney, at the age of 82.[24]
A number of Raper's brothers had success in top-grade rugby league.Ron played a 128-game career forCanterbury over seven seasons from 1966, kicking a field-goal from the halfway line in their1967 Grand final loss to South Sydney. He played out the end of his career as captain/coach atWests Brisbane and made two representative appearances forQueensland in 1973.Maurie Raper played eighty-seven first grade matches forPenrith andCronulla in an eight-year career; Gerard made two first grade appearances for Canterbury in 1977; and Peter, two appearances forNewtown while Michael played in lower grades.[25]
Johnny's sonAaron played as a hooker for Cronulla andParramatta from 1990 to 1998. During Aaron's exceptional 1992 season he was touted to become the top hooker in Australia, however, an exceptionally bad run with injuries, including a severe blood clot that threatened his life during 1994, prevented Aaron from ever reaching the greater heights. Aaron played representative rugby league only during theSuper League warin 1995. He later moved to England but in 2010 made a return to Sydney and played in the Illawarra competition.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Paul Broughton 1977 | Coach Newtown Jets 1978 | Succeeded by Warren Ryan 1979 |
| Preceded by Noel Thornton 1974 | Coach Cronulla 1975−1976 | Succeeded by Ted Glossop 1977 |
| Preceded by Norm Provan 1968 | Coach St George 1969 | Succeeded by Jack Gibson 1970–1971 |
| Preceded by | Captain Australia 1967–1968 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
