Clive Churchill

Churchill in 1952
Personal information
Full name	Clive Bernard Churchill
Born	(1927-01-21)21 January 1927 Newcastle,New South Wales,Australia
Died	9 August 1985(1985-08-09) (aged 58) Sydney,New South Wales,Australia
Playing information
Height	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	76 kg (12 st 0 lb)
Position	Fullback
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1946–47 Central Newcastle 1947–58 South Sydney 158 13 74 3 193 1959 Norths (Brisbane) 1961 Moree Boars Total 158 13 74 3 193 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1948–55 NSW City Firsts 8 2 3 1 14 1948–57 New South Wales 27 4 15 3 48 1948–56 Australia 38 0 9 1 20 1951 Sydney Firsts 1 0 0 0 0 1959 Queensland 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1958 South Sydney 18 6 0 12 33 1959 Northern Suburbs 21 15 0 6 71 1963–64 Canterbury-Bankstown 36 7 2 27 19 1967–75 South Sydney 211 136 3 72 64 Total 286 164 5 117 57 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1952–63 Australia 29 15 1 13 52 1959 Queensland 3 2 0 1 67
Source:[1]

Clive Bernard ChurchillAM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was anAustralian professionalrugby league footballer and coach in the mid-20th century. AnAustralian international andNew South Wales andQueensland interstate representativefullback, he played the majority of his club football with and later coached theSouth Sydney Rabbitohs. He won five premierships with the club as a player and three more as coach. Retiring as the most capped Australian Kangaroos player ever, Churchill is thus considered one of the game's greatest ever players^[2] and the prestigiousClive Churchill Medal for man-of-the-match in theNRL grand final bears his name. Churchill's attacking flair as a player is credited with having changed the role of thefullback.^[3]

Clive Churchill was born inNewcastle, New South Wales, and was a star schoolboyfive-eighth atMarist Brothers,Hamilton, where he won five premierships while at school. The brothers at his school banned him from playing with Central Newcastle juniors and as a result he only appeared for them a handful of times.^[4]

In 1946 Churchill was graded with Central in theNewcastle Rugby League competition as afullback. He represented forCountry Seconds in 1946 and came to the attention ofSydney talent scouts. He was signed toSouth Sydney by their patronDave Spring and moved to Sydney at the start ofthe 1947 season. Like many top Australian players, Churchill attracted the attention of English clubs, and was signed byWorkington Town for£10,000.^[5] However, an international transfer ban imposed bythe ARL in 1948 meant Churchill had to stay in Sydney.^[5]

Under captain-coachJack Rayner, South Sydney reachedthe 1949 season's grand final againstSt. George and Churchill played at fullback in the Rabbitohs' loss. Souths reached the grand final again the following season, this time againstWestern Suburbs, and Churchill played fullback in the Rabbitohs' victory.

Nicknamed "The Little Master"^[4][6] Churchill was selected to captainSydney's representative team when they hostedFrance during the1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand. The match ended in a 19–all draw. At the end ofthe 1951 season South Sydney reached their third consecutive grand final, this time againstManly-Warringah and Churchill played at fullback, scoring a try in the Rabbitohs' second consecutive victory. Churchill missed South Sydney's fourth consecutive grand final in 1952 as he was away on theKangaroo tour to England.

South Sydney reachedthe 1953 season's premiership final, their fifth in succession, and Churchill played at fullback, kicking a goal in the Rabbitohs' victory over St. George. Souths won the 1953 premiership without the need to play a grand final, but this would be the last time such an outcome was possible with the mandating of a grand final to determine the premiership from the following season onward.

At the1954 Rugby League World Cup, the first ever rugby football world cup, Churchill captained the Australian team, however they failed to reach the final. He would play for the Rabbitohs as they defeated Newtown 23–15 in the first mandatory grand finalin 1954. Churchill played Souths' second last regular game ofthe 1955 season against Manly with a broken arm, winning the game with a successful sideline conversion kicked after the full-time bell with his broken arm wrapped in cardboard. However he was forced to miss the finals in 1955 due to injury.

Churchill played his final Test for Australia on the1956–57 Kangaroo tour. He captained South Sydneyin 1957 and captained-coached themin 1958, which would prove his last season playing for the Rabbitohs. Churchill spent twelve seasons at Redfern, playing 164 games and winning five premierships: 1950, 1951, 1953, 1954 and 1955.

In 1959 Churchill captain-coachedBrisbane Rugby League clubNorths to a premiership, and was also selected as captain-coach forthe Queensland team. He retired from playing at the end of that season, but in 1961 he played a swansong season in the northwestern town ofMoree, New South Wales. Churchill had played 34 Tests for Australia and the 1954 World Cup series. He captained Australia in 24 Test matches over a period of six years which including three series against Great Britain. He also played 37 games for New South Wales the standing record for most games by a player for the state.

Churchill was appointed non-playing coach of theAustralia national team for their1959–60 Kangaroo tour.^[7] On the tour the Australians lost the Ashes series to Great Britain but won both test matches against France.

Churchill commenced his NSWRFL Premiership coaching career withCanterbury-Bankstown in 1963. The club finished with the wooden spoon the following season, winning only one game for the worst record in the NSWRFL since the1946 Rabbitohs lost every game, and Churchill was replaced by former coachEddie Burns.

In 1967 Churchill was appointed coach of South Sydney. He had immediate success, Souths winning the premiership in his inaugural year as coach. He steered the South Sydney club to four premiership victories out of five grand final appearances between 1967 and 1971. Churchill resigned as coach of South Sydney during the 1975 season.

Churchill also had success in coaching the Queensland and Australian teams. Churchill was also commemorated as one of Australia's most successful coaches.

On 10 June 1985, Churchill was honoured as a Member of theOrder of Australia "in recognition of service to sport, particularly Rugby League Football and to the community".^[8] Also that year he was selected by the respected publicationRugby League Week as one of the initial four post-war "Immortals" of the Australian game alongsideFulton,Raper andGasnier.^[4]

In 1986, the newly built Clive Churchill Stand at theSydney Cricket Ground was named in his honour. He is one of six sportsmen and only two rugby league players to have a stand at the SCG named after him. TheClive Churchill Medal has, since 1986, been awarded annually to the player judged best on ground in the season'sGrand Final. A plaque in the Walk of Honour at theSydney Cricket Ground commemorates his career as not only a great player but as an all-time great coach.

In 2002, Churchill was inducted into theAustralian Rugby League Hall of Fame and was later named in the South Sydney team of the Century.

In 2007, Churchill was selected by a panel of experts at fullback in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'.^[9]

In February 2008, Churchill 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.^[10][11] Churchill went on to be named as fullback 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.^[12][13]

• Clive Churchill Medal

Wikimedia Commons has media related toClive Churchill.

• Clive Churchill at theSport Australia Hall of Fame
• Clive Churchill at souths.com.au atarchive.today (archived 7 March 2003)
• Clive Churchill at rl1908.com at theWayback Machine (archived 17 December 2005)
• Clive Churchill at eraofthebiff.com at theWayback Machine (archived 4 October 2007)

Sporting positions
Preceded by Keith Froome	Australia Captain 1950-54	Succeeded by Ken Kearney

• 1927 births
• 1985 deaths
• Australia national rugby league team captains
• Australia national rugby league team coaches
• Australia national rugby league team players
• Australian rugby league coaches
• Australian rugby league players
• Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches
• Central Charlestown Butcher Boys players
• Clive Churchill Medal winners
• Members of the Order of Australia
• Norths Devils coaches
• Norths Devils players
• Queensland rugby league team coaches
• Queensland rugby league team players
• Rugby league fullbacks
• Rugby league players from Newcastle, New South Wales
• South Sydney Rabbitohs captains
• South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches
• South Sydney Rabbitohs players
• Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees
• New South Wales rugby league team players
• City New South Wales rugby league team players
• 20th-century Australian sportsmen

• Webarchive template wayback links
• CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use Australian English from April 2015
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Use dmy dates from October 2020
• Commons category link is on Wikidata
• Sport Australia Hall of Fame template with ID different from Wikidata
• Webarchive template archiveis links