Johnny Raper

Johnny Raper

Player information
Full name	John William Raper
birthday	April 12, 1939
place of birth	Bankstown City , New South Wales , Australia
Nickname	Chook
society
society	Career ended
position	Third row striker
Clubs as active
Years	society	Games (points)
1957–58 1959–1969 1970–72 1973–74	Newtown Jets St. George Dragons Western Suburbs Rosellas Kurri Kurri Bulldogs	37 (30) 158 (149) 39
National team
Years	National team	Games (points)
1959-1970 1959-68	New South Wales Australia	24 (15) 39 (27)
Coaching stations
Years	Association / Province / Franchise
1969 1970–1972 1973–1974 1975–76 1978	St George Dragons Western Suburbs Rosellas Kurri Kurri Bulldogs Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks Newtown Jets
As of August 1, 2009

Johnny Raper MBE (born April 12, 1939 ) is a retired Australian rugby league player. During his time as a player with the St. George Dragons , he took part in the NSWRL Grand Final eight times in a row . He is a member of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and is widely recognized as one of the best Australian rugby league players of the 20th century.

Career

Raper was born in Revesby, a southwestern part of Sydney within Bankstown City . He first played at junior level for the Camperdown Dragons before taking part in the 1956 President's Cup with the Newtown Jets .

He made his debut for the Jets in the NSWRFL in 1957 at the age of 18. In 1958 he already played with the New South Wales Colts against Great Britain and moved to the reigning champions St George Dragons . With them he took part in the Grand Final of the NSWRFL eight times between 1959 and 1966.

1959-60 he took part for the first time in a so-called "Kangaroo Tour" of the Australian national team , an overseas tour to Great Britain with three games against the British national team. The series ended 2-1 for Great Britain, in the last game Raper put a try. Although Raper took part in two other Kangaroo Tours, he was only moderately active for the national team for the next ten years due to injuries.

In the second game of the Kangaroo Tour in 1963, Australia beat Great Britain 50:12, which was their biggest win against Great Britain to date. Raper was involved in seven attempts in the first 25 minutes alone.

In the first game of his third and final Kangaroo Tour that Australia lost 11:16, Raper suffered a zygomatic fracture . In the second game that Australia won 17:11, he did not take part. He finally took part in the decisive third game after Reg Gasnier broke his leg. The game took place on October 21, 1967 in wintry conditions on a frozen field in Swinton and ended 11: 3 for Australia. It was the first time in a long time that Australia had won a kangaroo tour in England.

1967-1968 Raper was in two friendly games against France captain of the Australian national team, with which he won the Rugby League World Cup in 1968 shortly thereafter . In 1969 he played his final season with the St George Dragons as a player-coach . In 1971 he received a lifetime membership with them.

From 1970 to 1972 Raper played as a player-coach with the Western Suburbs Rosellas , with whom he won the Grand Final in 1970. In his final years he played for Kurri Kurri . He then coached the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks from 1975 to 1976 and temporarily coached the Newtown Jets in 1978 , whose coach had been sacked after five games.

Next life

After the end of his rugby career, Raper had numerous appearances on the radio and on TV talk shows. He was also seen in commercials for a tire company and the Liberal Party .

He has received numerous awards, including a member of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and the list of Australian rugby league's 100 greatest players . In 2000, a picture of Hui Hai Xi that depicts him also made it into the final of the Archibald Prize .

Web links

• Johnny Raper on playtheball.com
• Johnny Raper on eraofthebiff.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [1]