Viv Thicknesse

Viv Thicknesse
Full name Vivian Arthur Thicknesse
Date of birth 18 November 1910
Place of birth Temora, New South Wales
Date of death 19 August 1986
Place of death Orange, New South Wales
Rugby league career
Position Half-back
Professional clubs
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1933–1937 Eastern Suburbs 75 (57)
correct as of 31 December 2007.
State Representation
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1933-1936 NSW 11 (9)
National teams
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1933–1935 Australia 7 (0)
correct as of 31 December 2007.
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position Half-back
Amateur clubs
Years Club / team
1930-1932 Eastern Suburbs RUFC
Provincial/State sides
Years Club / team Caps (points)
1930 New South Wales

Viv Thicknesse (1910–1986) was an Australian dual-code rugby half-back, a state representative in both rugby league and rugby union. His rugby league career was spent with the champion Eastern Suburbs sides of the 1930s and he represented for Australia in that code in seven Tests.

Playing career

Following his schooling at Sydney Boys High School in the 1920s, [1]Thicknesse was a half-back with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club. He switched to the professional code in 1931 and joining Eastern Suburbs' rugby league side. He was a member of the Tricolours' champion teams of the 1930s and won consecutive premierships with the club in the seasons of 1935, 1936 and NSWRL season 1937. He captained the 1937 side.

He represented for New South Wales on eleven occasions between 1933 and 1936 and made his international debut for Australia on the 1933-34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain where he appeared in two Tests and in sixteen minor matches. He played in further Test series against New Zealand in 1935 and against Great Britain in 1936 for a total of seven career Test appearances. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 181. [2] He formed a formidable representative halves pairing with Wests great Vic Hey and with his Easts clubmate Ernie Norman.


Accolades

A halfback, Thicknesse was renowned for his passing game and was selected in Eastern Suburbs 'Team Of The Century'. Dally Messenger once said of Viv Thicknesse that "he rated him the equal of any half he had seen play the game".

In February 2008, Thicknesse 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][4]

Thicknesse scores in 1933 for NSW v Qld

Sources

References

  1. ↑ http://www.shsobu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sport.pdf
  2. ↑ ARL Annual Report 2005, page 53
  3. ↑ Peter Cassidy (2008-02-23). "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players". Macquarie National News. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
  4. ↑ "Centenary of Rugby League - The Players". NRL & ARL. 2008-02-23. Retrieved 2008-02-23.
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