Charles Fraser (rugby league)

Charles Fraser

Personal information
Nickname	Chook
Born	11 January 1893(1893-01-11) Balmain, New South Wales, Australia
Died	1981
Playing information
Position	Fullback, Centre
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1910–1926	Balmain	190	54	165	0	492
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1915–1921	New South Wales	10				19
1911–1920	Australia	11	2	1	0	8
Source: Rugby League Project and Yesterday's Hero

Charles "Chook" Fraser (1893–1981) was an Australian rugby league footballer and later coach. He was a versatile three-quarter for the Australian national team. He played in 11 Tests between 1911 and 1920 as captain on 3 occasions. He is considered one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century ^[1]

Club career

A Balmain junior, Fraser was graded with the Balmain Tigers at age 17 before an extraordinary 17 year career for the club at either fullback or centre from 1910 to 1926. He was member of Balmain's premiership winning sides of 1915, 1916, 1917, 1920, and 1924. His 185 first grade games stood as the Balmain club record for more than four decades.

He was the NSW Rugby Football League's top point scorer in 1916 and 1917.

He was voted into both the Wests Tigers Team of the Century and the Balmain Tigers Team of the Century in the position of centre.

Representative career

In only his second year in first grade with just 15 games to his credit and still aged 18 Fraser was selected for the 1911-12 Kangaroo Tour of England. He made his Test debut at full-back against England in the 1st Test of 1911 at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and played in 20 other tour matches.

He made his state debut for New South Wales in 1912 against New Zealand. He made a further nine state appearances during his career against Queensland or visiting International sides.

He made ten further Test appearances (at home against the 1914 and 1920 Lions, while touring New Zealand in 1919 and then on his second Kangaroo tour of 1921–22, with fellow Balmain players Reg Latta, Jimmy Craig and Bill 'Chang' Schultz) playing seven times at full-back and three times at five-eighth. The 1919 touring side of New Zealand was the first Australian full Test side to cross the Tasman. With the world still recovering from World War I and in the midst of the deadly Spanish flu pandemic, the team could only find passage to New Zealand on a cockroach and rat-infested cargo ship out of Newcastle harbour. Half-way across the Tasman, bites from the ship-bred vermin led to Fraser and Duncan Thompson falling victim to blood-poisoned legs.

His first appearance as captain of the Kangaroos was the 1st test of the 1921-22 Kangaroo Tour. He led the side in all three Tests of that series.

Post-playing

He coached a Gundagai side to success in a country competition in 1926 and coached the Balmain Tigers in 1932. He remained involved with the club in the 1950s and 1960s as a talent scout and lived in the area for the rest of his life.

In 2006 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.^[2] In February 2008, Fraser was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.^[3]

References

1. ^ Century's Top 100 Players
2. ^ Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame
3. ^ "Centenary of Rugby League – The Players". NRL & ARL. 2008-02-23. http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true. Retrieved 2008-02-23. 

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Centenary Test Game Day Souvenir Program (2008), News Magazines, Surry Hills, Sydney

Persondata
Name	Fraser, Charles
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	11 January 1893
Place of birth	Balmain, New South Wales
Date of death	1981
Place of death