Cheers and good health to Charlie and Norbert, two great rugby men

As Wallaby coach Michael Cheika and his All Black counterpart Steve Hansen prepare their respective sides for Round 1 of Bledisloe Cup 2015, rugby fans might give a moment’s thought to two figures of Australian rugby who are not in the finest of health.

Charles Peter Crittle and Norbert Byrne made significant contributions to the game in Australia, and the game may not be what it is were it not for their contributions.

Peter Crittle is a New South Welshman who loves his Waratahs as overtly as Queenslanders love their Bundaberg Rum, XXXX and Reds.

The son of a Sydney police officer, Crittle forged a career as a quick-witted, sharp-tongued barrister, but not before the utility forward earned 15 Test caps for the Wallabies between 1962 and 1967 – one of Australia’s better periods on the international stage.

Crittle has an enviable record of defeating the Springboks in Capetown and Johannesburg in 1963, and again on home soil in 1965 in Sydney and Brisbane. Those victories fell either side of convincing wins over the All Blacks in Wellington in 1964. That’s good rugby by any standard.

Stamped ‘not to tour again’ after the 1966-67 Tour of Great Britain, Ireland, France and Canada – some might say unjustifiably – Crittle’s love of the game never tired. He went on to skipper the Sydney Eastern Suburbs Rugby Club to a grand final victory in 1969, and it has been discussed that Crittle, playing some outstanding rugby at the time, would have been an ideal skipper for the 1969 of South Africa.

In 1975, he and former Wallaby Dick Marks were instrumental in developing the National Coaching Manual that shaped the Australian game for decades to come, undoubtedly playing a part in future Bledisloe victories, the Grand Slam, and the Wallabies World Cup victory in 1991.

I have been fortunate enough to chat with Crittle on this subject and he said he and Dick Marks travelled the world, speaking and observing rugby techniques, to develop the manual over a period of months.

I enquired as to where they travelled to exactly, and he told me, “Oh you know, the usual places; Wales, England, Ireland, France, Scotland, Mexico.”

“Mexico”? I quizzed, perplexed as I rummaged through the brain for the last great Mexican loose forward to play the game.

Crittle grinned and said, “Well Dick and I were in Tijuana… For about three days.”

“Why”?

His grin grew broader as he took an ample gulp of his Campari and soda, “To study the footwork of the matador old boy.”

In between sipping his favoured Campari at Everest base camp, rafting the Okavango Delta, or running with the bulls in Pamplona, ‘Charlie’ found time to coach Central West, Sydney, New South Wales and later become President of both the New South Wales and Australian rugby unions.

A genuine lover of the game, Charlie would be as at ease watching the Byron Ranges tussle it out with the Mullumbimby Moonshiners as he would at the Bledisloe this Saturday night. A real rugby man is Charlie.

Norbert Byrne has been described by former Wallaby Dick Marks as “The modern father of the Queensland Rugby Union”.

“From the mid 1970s to the mid 1990s Norbert was a Queensland Rugby Union leader that took him to a very influential role in Australian rugby and indeed an international responsibility on the IRB.

“His part in providing regular competition for Queensland against New Zealand provinces helped Queensland to become the dominant Australian Union for two decades. It could easily be argued that during much of that time it was the second strongest second tier (provincial) team in the world after Auckland.

“Together with Joe French, Barrie Ffrench and Lyn Crowley, he established Ballymore as the second rugby-owned complex in Australia, after the T G Millner Field at Eastwood.”

Not one to mince his words, Marks is sure of the contribution and character of Byrne when saying, “As a major player in ARU affairs he was part of the administration that handed over many gifts to the incoming professional regime – the best squad of players Australia has ever had, a Rugby World Cup winner, a Super 12 and Tri-Nations competition with a broadcasting contract and the best development system in the world.

“Sadly those assets have been either lost or weakened. It must have hurt Norbert immensely to see centralised obsessions financially emasculate the Queensland Rugby Union and to impoverish its great nursery.

“The integrity and the wisdom of Norbert Byrne have been grievously missing since his retirement and we all wish him well.”

So to those in either black, gold or even a neutral observer this weekend, can I ask you to think of Charlie and Norbert, and wish them well in a speedy recovery to health.

Both have done so much for the game and I personally thank both gentleman for it. Cheers Charlie, cheers Norbert.