Trevor Allan (rugby)

Trevor Allan OAM (26 September 1926 – 27 January 2007) was an Australian dual-code rugby international who captained Australia in rugby union before switching to rugby league with English club Leigh.

Trevor Allan
Birth nameTrevor Allan
Date of birth26 September 1926
Place of birthBathurst, New South Wales
Date of death27 January 2007(2007-01-27) (aged 80)
SchoolNorth Sydney Technical High School
Occupation(s)Commentator
Rugby union career
Position(s) Centre
Amateur team(s)
Years Team Apps (Points)
1945–50 Gordon RFC ()
Provincial / State sides
Years Team Apps (Points)
1946–50 New South Wales 17 ()
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1946–49 Australia 14
Rugby league career
Playing information
PositionCentre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1950–54 Leigh 97 162
1956–58 North Sydney 11 14
Total 108 0 0 0 176
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1951–1953 Other Nationalities 4 9
1952 British Empire 1 3
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1957–1958 North Sydney

Rugby union club career

A North Sydney rugby union junior, Allan was educated at North Sydney Technical High School.[1] His senior club career was with the Gordon rugby club in Sydney where his father was a coach. Phil Tressider described him as a fine running centre with powerful acceleration once he got outside a rival. His forte was the muscle he would add to a back-line with his fierce tackling. He had strength beyond his years and slight physique. As a teenager he shared an ice-run with one of his brothers and he would haul a 28-pound block of ice on a hook in either hand sometimes climbing three or four flights of stairs to make the delivery.[2]

Rugby union representative career

After only a handful of senior games, he was selected for New South Wales aged just 19 and later that year for the 1946 tour of New Zealand, the Wallabies' first post-war tour. Allan's defence impressed against the experienced All Black backline.

In 1947 he was selected as vice-captain of the Wallaby side to tour Europe and North America. In the sixth game of the tour, in a minor match against London Counties, the captain Bill McLean broke his leg badly and was able to play no further part in the nine-month tour. Allan took over. This was a few days after his 21st birthday making him the second youngest Wallaby captain and the youngest ever touring captain. The Wallabies beat Scotland, Ireland and England but lost to Wales on penalties. They did not have a try scored against them in any of these Tests. Allan returned from the tour having proved both his exceptional leadership and playing capabilities.

In 1949 he led the Wallabies to New Zealand where they won the Bledisloe Cup for the first time in New Zealand and posted eleven wins from twelve games on tour. The Rugby Almanack of New Zealand that year named him one of the world's top 5 players.[3]

He missed the Test against the British Lions in 1950 due to injury but coached the Australian side.

In all he played 17 matches for the New South Wales Waratahs in his rugby career, he played for Australia in 52 matches of which 14 were Tests. He was captain in 40 of those 52 national appearances, 10 of them Tests.

Rugby league career

In late 1950 Allan signed with English Rugby Football League club Leigh. With the assistance of Australian former rugby league international Ray Stehr he signed a four-year contract with the club worth 5,000 pounds sterling.[4] He made 97 appearances for Leigh in a four-year period, scoring 52 tries. He also represented in a star-studded Other Nationalities side during this time, making him a dual-code international. He returned to Australia in 1955 and played three seasons with the North Sydney Bears, the last two as captain-coach.

Post-playing

After retiring he began a long and successful career with the Australian Broadcasting Commission as a commentator on league and union. He was the face and voice of the ABC's rugby union coverage throughout the 1960s and 1970s. He died early in 2007.[5]

Accolades and honours

On 10 June 1991, he was awarded the Order of Australia Medal[6] and on 23 August 2000, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for services to rugby union.[7] He was made a life member of the Sydney Cricket Ground and has been honored there with the installment of a bronze sculpture of his likeness, and a plaque in the Walk of Honour there commemorates his career.[8]

His 1947 Wallaby tour teammate Sir Nicholas Shehadie described him as follows: I doubt that I ever laid eyes on a better defending centre who also excelled in attack. He performed many try-saving tackles, most memorably in our 1948 Test defeat of England at Twickenham. Few better leaders.[9]

In 2007 the Trevor Allan Cup was created in his honour being a five-round north–south pool competition involving first grade teams from all twelve Sydney clubs, conducted in the second half of the Sydney domestic season after completion of the Shute Shield first grade competition.

In 2010, he was honoured in the sixth set of inductees into the Australian Rugby Union Hall of Fame.[10]

He is one of six captains to lead his side to a test series win on New Zealand soil, along with Philip J. Nel (1937 Springboks), John Dawes (1971 British Lions), Andrew Slack (1986 Australia), Philippe Saint-André (1994 France) and Johnny Sexton (2022 Ireland).

References
  1. RA & the private schoolboy image ABC News 14 June 2023
  2. Tressider in The Class of '47-'48
  3. Howell, p.129
  4. Meares, Peter (2003). Legends of Australian sport: The Inside Story. Australia: University of Queensland Press. p. 6. ISBN 9780702234101. Archived from the original on 10 April 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  5. "404". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 July 2010. {{cite web}}: Cite uses generic title (help)
  6. "Trevor Allan OAM". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  7. "Trevor Allan". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 December 2012.
  8. "Trevor Allan immortalised in bronze". Sydneycricketground.com.au. 6 June 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2011.
  9. Shehadie, A Life Worth Living, p.237
  10. "Herbert "Paddy" Moran honoured in Hall of Fame | Live Rugby News". ESPNscrum. Archived from the original on 18 July 2011. Retrieved 15 June 2016.

Sources
  • Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, HarperCollins Publishers Sydney – (Essay specific to this article Phil Tressider's The Class of '47-48 1st published Sydney's Daily Telegraph 1987)
  • Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
  • Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead – Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
  • Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) A Life Worth Living, Simon & Schuster Australia
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