Craig Gower

Craig Gower

Gower in 2005
Personal information
Born	29 April 1978 (1978-04-29) (age 33) Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
Height	174 cm (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	90 kg (14 st 2 lb)
Playing information
Rugby league
Position	Halfback
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1996–07	Penrith Panthers	238	55	4	5	233
2012	Harlequins RL	0	0	0	0	0
	Total	238	55	4	5	233
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1997	New South Wales (SL)	3	0	0	0	0
1997	Australia (SL)	5	3	0	0	12
1999–08	Australia	18	5	0	0	20
2001–06	New South Wales	5	0	0	0	0
2003–07	City Origin	3	0	0	0	0
Rugby union
Position	Flyhalf
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2008–11	Aviron Bayonnais	74	7	9	4	71
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
2009–11	Italy	13	0			14
Source: Yesterday's Hero Scrum.com It's Rugby

Craig Gower (born 29 April 1978) is an Australian-Italian professional rugby footballer. He is a dual-code rugby international, having played rugby league for Australia, and rugby union for Italy. He currently plays rugby union for French Top 14 side Bayonne but has agreed to return to play rugby league with Harlequins RL for the 2012 season.^[1] He is eligible to play international rugby union for Italy due to an Italian grandfather,^[2] and made his debut against Australia in Canberra on 13 June 2009 in the first Test of Italy's tour to Australia and New Zealand.

He previously played rugby league for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League, and captained the team to premiership victory in the 2003 NRL season. He represented New South Wales and Australia in rugby league, captaining Australia in 2005.

On August 10 2011 it was confirmed that Gower would be returning to Rugby League playing with the English Super League Harlequins for 2 seasons.^[3]

Rugby league career

Gower's junior club was the Colyton-Mt Druitt Colts. He made his representative debut in his second season at the top grade when still aged only eighteen. He was selected in the Australian Super League side for the ANZAC Test against New Zealand in 1997. He appeared in both Super League Tests against New Zealand and made the end of year Super League tour to Great Britain, playing in all three Tests in England at halfback.

Following the re-unification of Australian rugby league, Gower played for Australia in 1999. He was selected for the ANZAC Test that year but was dismissed following a disciplinary incident. However he was back in the side by year's end for his first ARL Test in the Tri-Series in New Zealand. He debuted for New South Wales in the 2001 State of Origin series, and made five appearances until 2006.

Gower was the captain of the Panthers between 2002 and 2005, the highlight of which was the victory over the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 NRL grand final. After that he was selected to go on the 2003 Kangaroo tour.

Gower was named Australia's captain for the Test match against France on the 2005 Tri-Nations tour.^[4] Gower is the second Penrith Panthers player to captain his country, after Brad Fittler in 1995.

Gower ended the 2007 regular season with 238 career matches for the Penrith Panthers, four games short of the club record of 242 held by Steve Carter. On 22 February 2007, Gower was appointed co-captain for 2007 along with fellow players Tony Puletua and Luke Priddis.

He was a regular selection for Australia between 1999 and 2008, making eighteen test appearances. His later appearances were at half-back although earlier in his career he played at hooker.

Rugby union career

French club rugby

On 26 June 2007, Gower was reported to have switched codes and joined French Top 14 rugby union side Bayonne.^[5] Gower still had two years to run on his contract at Penrith.^[6]

Representative

Gower expressed his desire to play rugby union for Italy in 2008. He qualifies for the Azzurri due to an Italian grandfather. On 13 June 2009, Gower made his first appearance for Italy at fly half against Australia after being selected for the mid-season tour of Australia and New Zealand. Italy coach Nick Mallett had initial reservations about selecting Gower after reading about his past alcohol-related misdemeanours in Gower's Wikipedia article.^[7]

Return to rugby league

Following the expiry of his union contract, Gower agreed a deal to return to rugby league with Super League side Harlequins RL for the 2012 season. As a result, he did not feature in Italy's 2011 Rugby World Cup campaign, and was instead selected in the Italy rugby league squad for the 2013 Rugby League World Cup qualifying tournament.

Controversy

Gower has been involved in a number of alcohol-related off-field incidents.

In 1999, Gower exposed himself to a female Irish tourist in a Coogee bar, blaming his behaviour on alcohol intoxication. He was dumped from the Kangaroos squad and fined $2,500 by the NRL and a further $500 in court after pleading guilty to indecent exposure.^[8]

Gower was fired as Panthers captain in December 2005,^[9] after incidents at a charity golf event where he argued with several guests, groped the teenage daughter of former league player Wayne Pearce, chased Pearce's son with a bottle before vomiting on him, streaked nude around the resort, stole and crashed a golf cart, held a butter knife ^[10] to the throat of a Sydney radio personality before throwing it at resort guests, and engaged in a brawl with resort security before being ejected from the official function and detained by police.^[11] Gower was handed a "final warning" by the National Rugby League and fined $100,000, with $90,000 to be paid to an NRL programme encouraging the responsible use of alcohol by league players and $10,000 to replace the destroyed golf cart.^[12] Gower was "deeply unhappy" that the Penrith Panthers club did not defend his reputation, and at one stage threatened to "walk" from the club.^[13]

Allegedly inebriated with alcohol in a bar at Kings Cross on 11 February 2007, Gower allegedly tried to kiss one man before biting him on the neck and sparking a brawl, and is accused of assaulting another man.^[14][15] The Panthers club controversially reappointed Gower as captain in 2007, claiming the Peppermint Lounge incident was just a media "beat-up".^[16]

Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser said Gower was unfit to be captain, due to his alleged lewd behaviour at the charity golf event which she attended,^[17] and Sarah Maddison, spokesperson for the Women's Electoral Lobby, said "reappointing Craig Gower would send all the wrong messages."^[18]

References

1. ^ http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/craig-gower-to-play-league-in-uk-20110810-1ilm0.html
2. ^ "BBC SPORT | Rugby Union | Australian Gower lands Italy call". BBC News. 18 May 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8056181.stm. Retrieved 14 February 2010. 
3. ^ http://www.league.quins.co.uk/news/13776.php
4. ^ Annual Report 2005 – Australian Rugby League
5. ^ "Aussie Gower set to switch codes". BBC. 26 June 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/6240798.stm. Retrieved 26 June 2007. 
6. ^ "French rugby my biggest challenge: Gower". NRL. 26 June 2007. http://svc002.wic110cx.server-web.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/5849/Default.aspx. Retrieved 26 June 2007. 
7. ^ Italy eyes Gower, warts'n'all Alex Brown in Grenoble | 29 September 2008
8. ^ "Gower incident gives League image another beating" ABC Report, 21 April 1999
9. ^ "Gower demoted after drunken binge". BBC News. 4 January 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/international_and_australian/4579992.stm. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
10. ^ Gallagher, Brendan (12 February 2010). "Six Nations 2010: Craig Gower making the most of fresh start with Italy". London: Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/italy/7223016/Six-Nations-2010-Craig-Gower-making-the-most-of-fresh-start-with-Italy.html. Retrieved 14 February 2010. 
11. ^ "NRL wants probe into Gower grope claims". The Age. 22 December 2005. http://www.theage.com.au/news/league/nrl-wants-probe-into-gower-grope-claims/2005/12/22/1135032121063.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
12. ^ "NRL gives Gower his final warning". The New Zealand Herald. 23 January 2006. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10364852. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
13. ^ Prichard, Greg (6 February 2006). "Gower's ultimatum: defend me or I'll walk". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/gowers-ultimatum-defend-me-or-ill-walk/2006/02/05/1139074110257.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
14. ^ Pandaram, Jamie (23 March 2007). "Police set to charge Gower". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/police-set-to-charge-gower/2007/03/22/1174153255058.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. ^{[dead link]}
15. ^ Masters, Roy (13 February 2007). "Time for Craig to face demons". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/time-for-craig-to-face-demons/2007/02/12/1171128898565.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
16. ^ "Enough is enough". The Daily Telegraph. 17 February 2007. http://origin.www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21237481-5001023,00.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 
17. ^ Clark, Laine (3 January 2007). "Gower 'shouldn't be captain'". Fox Sports. http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,,21006250-23214,00.html. 
18. ^ Phelps, James (5 January 2007). "Leave Craig alone". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21011973-5001023,00.html. Retrieved 10 August 2007. 

External links

• State of Origin official website Rugby League player stats

Persondata
Name	Gower, Craig
Alternative names
Short description	Australian rugby league player
Date of birth	29 April 1978
Place of birth	Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
Date of death
Place of death