August 9: Indigenous Team of Century; Little Master passes away
On this day in rugby league history, Johnathan Thurston and Arthur Beetson were among several of the game's greats named in the Indigenous Team of the Century and the Little Master, Clive Churchill, passed away.
1954
Allan McMahon is born in Wollongong. McMahon played 150 games for Balmain, Newtown and Canberra, and also represented Australia five times. He coached at Canberra, Newcastle and Illawarra. McMahon passed away in 2003.
1985
Death of champion Australian fullback Clive Churchill. With Souths, NSW and Australia, he performed magnificent deeds. He played 157 club games, 37 times for NSW, an incredible 91 times for Australia (including 34 Tests and three World Cup games) — 298 games in all. He then went on to coach South Sydney to four premierships in five years (1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971). One of the game's four original Immortals, Churchill was farewelled by a huge crowd of mourners at his funeral at Sydney’s St Marys’ Cathedral.
2008
Contemporary NRL stars Johnathan Thurston, Sam Thaiday and Greg Inglis are named in Australian rugby league’s Indigenous Team of the Century. The team named in Brisbane is: Eric Simms; Lionel Morgan, Steve Renouf, Greg Inglis, Dale Shearer; Laurie Daley, Johnathan Thurston; Sam Backo, Mal Cochrane, Arthur Beetson, Gorden Tallis, Sam Thaiday, Cliff Lyons. Reserves: 'George Green, Wally McArthur, Frank Fisher, John Ferguson.
2014
Parramatta fullback Jarryd Hayne crosses for the 100th try of his career as the Eels continue their charge for the finals with an 18-10 defeat of Canberra at Darwin’s TIO Stadium.
2019
Penrith teenager Matt Burton stars on debut in a 26-20 defeat of Cronulla at Panthers Stadium. The Dubbo junior is supported by dozens of family and friends from his home town. Burton pays an emotional tribute to a close friend who died in an accident three years earlier.
2020
For the first time since 2013, the Gold Coast become the leading Queensland team in the competition after downing North Queensland 30-10 at Cbus Super Stadium.
This article contains information from the official records of NRL historian David Middleton.
