Reg Gasnier

Infobox rugby league biography
playername = Reg Gasnier
fullname = Reg Gasnier
nickname = Puff, the Magic Dragon

---

caption =
country =
position = rlp|CE
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1939|5|12|df=yes
placeofbirth = Kogarah, New South Wales
countryofbirth = Australia
height = convert|180|cm|ftin|abbr=on
weight =
club1 =
year1start = 1959
year1end = 1967
appearances1 = 125
tries1 = 127
goals1 = 20
fieldgoals1 = 0
points1 = 421
teamA =
yearAstart = 1959
yearAend = 1967
appearancesA = 16
triesA = 15
goalsA = 0
fieldgoalsA = 0
pointsA = 45
teamB =
yearBstart = 1959
yearBend = 1967
appearancesB = 36
triesB = 26
goalsB = 0
fieldgoalsB = 0
pointsB = 78
source =

Reginald William Gasnier AM (born 12 May, 1939 in Kogarah, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer, regarded as one of the 20th century's finest. He played in the centres for the St. George Dragons from 1959 to 1967. He also represented Australia in 36 Tests and three World Cup games and was the Captain of the national side on eight occasions between 1962 and 1967.

Childhood and early career

Gasnier was born and raised in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah. At Kogarah Intermediate High School Gasnier began to hone his natural sporting ability playing rugby, cricket, baseball and athletics. Reg Gasnier later attended Sydney Technical High School in the St. George area suburb of Bexley as a local student. Whilst at 'Tech', he became a champion schoolboy sportsman in both rugby and cricket.

He was selected at age 13 in a New South Wales Schoolboy side in a curtain raiser to the 1952 Australia and New Zealand Test.

t. George Dragons

In 1957 at the age of eighteen Gasnier was forced to choose which sport to focus on having already achieved junior state representative honours in both cricket and rugby league.

He signed on to play for the St. George Dragons, his local rugby league club for the start of the 1958 season. His talents had been noticed while he was playing for junior club Renown United. His rise through the game was meteoric, after only six games in third grade he was selected for his first grade debut and after only five first grade games he was selected for New South Walesref|ref-rec1. By 1959 Gasnier had become an established member of both the New South Wales state side and the Australian international team. He was a vital member of the all-conquering Dragons team of the later 1950s and early 1960s that successfully won 11 successive premiership victories. Gasnier himself enjoyed seven of those premiership victories

Before Gasnier the St George dynasty with three premierships to its credit had a backline that was well-drilled and competent but still one that deferred to the powerful Dragons forwards. After Gasnier donned the number 3 jersey, the backs came into their own as an irrespressible scoring machine.

Gasnier has been described as the ultimate all round rugby league player, possessing speed and a beautiful running style, good hands, a superb change of pace and great anticipation along with being a sound defender. He was dubbed 'Puff the Magic Dragon' by Dragons fans because of this. He finished his career with the Dragons in 1967 with 127 tries and 20 goals in only 131 appearances.

Upon his retirement the then ARL chairman Bill Buckley was quoted, "On his day, he was the greatest rugby league player I have ever seen. Gasnier had an amazing change of pace and great anticipation. He was also particularly unselfish. He was without peer."ref|ref-rec2

Australia

Gasnier made his international debut for Australia against New Zealand in the 1st Test on 1959 in Sydney and played in all three Tests of that series.

At the end of the 1959 season Gasnier toured England with the Kangaroos a highlight being his three tries in the 1st Test against a star studded Great Britain team at Station Road, Swinton.

He became Australia's youngest ever captain in 1962 when he led Australia against England aged 23 years and 28 days, he also toured Europe on another two occasions in 1963 and 1967, the latter also as captain.

Gasnier's career was unfortunately ended on the 1967 European tour when in a minor game against a French provincial team he sustained a cruciate injury and never played competitively again, he was only 28 years old. His international career finished with thirty-six test caps for Australia scoring twenty-six tries and captaining the side on eight occasions. Today he remains twelfth on the all-time scorers list for Australia.

Retirement

After retirement in 1967 Gasnier was involved in the media side of rugby league, writing about and becoming involved in broadcasting the game and showing that not only did he play the game beautifully but knew the detailed ins and outs of it.

He is the uncle of former St George Illawarra Dragons and Australian international, Mark Gasnier.

Honours

Since retirement he has been awarded a variety of honours. In 1985 he was selected as one of the initial four post-war “Immortals” of the Australian game with Churchill, Raper and Fulton and in December of that year he was inducted into the Australian Sporting Hall of Fameref|ref-rec3. In 2002 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.

In February 2008, Gasnier 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. [cite news|author=Peter Cassidy |publisher="Macquarie National News"|title=Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players |url=http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players |accessdate=2008-02-23|date=2008-02-23] [cite web|publisher="NRL & ARL"|title=Centenary of Rugby League - The Players |url=http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true |accessdate=2008-02-23|date=2008-02-23] Gasnier went on to be named as one of the centres, along with Mal Meninga, in Australian rugby league's "Team 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. [cite news|author=Todd Balym|publisher="Fox Sports Australia"|title=Johns, Meninga among Immortals |url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23557351-23214,00.html |accessdate=2008-04-17|date=2008-04-17] [cite web|publisher="NRL & ARL"|title=Team of the Century Announced |url=http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/news--reviews/media-releases/team-of-the-century-announced.aspx |accessdate=2008-04-17|date=2008-04-17]

References

ources

* [http://www.bestlegenz.com.au/Gaz.html "Reg Gasnier History"] , "www.bestlegenz.com.au", retrieved June 15, 2006
* [http://rl1908.com/Hoffame/Reg-Gasnier.htm "Rugby League 1908: Reg Gasnier"] by Sean Fagan, "RL1908", retrieved June 15, 2006
* [http://www.sahof.org.au/side_menu/searchDisplay.cfm?MemberID=86 "Gasnier inducted into Australia Hall of Fame"] by Brad Walter April 19, 2004, "Sport Australia Hall of Fame", retrieved June 15, 2006
* cite book | last=Whiticker, Alan and Hudson, Glen |title=The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players |year=2007
publisher="Gary Allen Pty Ltd" |location=Wetherill Park, New South Wales |isbn=9781877082931 |pages=609

External links

* [http://www.sahof.org.au/hallOfFame/memberProfile/index.php?memberID=86&memberType=legends Reg Gasnier biography at Sport Australia Hall of Fame]
* [http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/index.cgi?sID=10 Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame]
* [http://dragons.leagueunlimited.com/history_champ.asp Jubilee Avenue Dragons Legends]
* [http://www.bestlegenz.com.au/Gaz.html Reg Gasnier at bestlegenz.com.au]
* [http://rl1908.com/Hoffame/Reg-Gasnier.htm Reg Gasnier at rl1908.com]
* [http://www.eraofthebiff.com/p64a.html Reg Gasnier at eraofthebiff.com]