George Piggins
Encyclopedia
George Leslie Piggins AM
(born 14 October 1944) is an Australian rugby league
personality. He is a former player, coach and administrator of the South Sydney Rabbitohs
club. Following their exclusion from the National Rugby League
premiership at the end of the Super League war
, Piggins also successfully led the Rabbitohs' battle for re-inclusion in the NRL in the early 2000s.
, Piggins played the game as a hooker. He established himself in first grade in 1967 but was left out for Elwyn Walters
in the finals and took several years to re-establish himself in first grade. In 1971 Piggins played a superb game in the grand final when Walters was injured and late the following year finally established a permanent first grade berth for good. In 1974, with Walters leaving for Easts
, Piggins advanced so much that he played for New South Wales and the following year, despite Souths finishing last after winning only two of their last sixteen games, Piggins' toughness saw him represent Australia three times in the 1975 World Series
. The following year, he scored a memorable bustling try
(one of only eight in 120 first grade games) against the Western Suburbs Magpies
and again played for New South Wales. With injuries catching up, however, Piggins retired at the end of 1978, but his experience and the skill of coach Jack Gibson
that season was an important precursor for the Rabbitohs reaching the semis in 1980 after winning only one of their last eighteen games in 1977.
Post playing Piggins worked as a truck driver, eventually starting his own trucking business. He also invented a device which increased the rate at which trucks could be unloaded. His invention and business were later sold for millions of dollars.
and was awarded the Coca-Cola Rugby League Coach-of-the-Year award for taking South Sydney to the finals in his rookie year. With the work-rate of a relatively lightweight but extremely tough forward pack containing Les Davidson
, David Boyle
, Michael Andrews
, Wayne Chisholm, skipper Mario Fenech
and young giant Ian Roberts, Piggins took the Rabbitohs into the finals again in his second season. Although they scored the fewest tries of the thirteen clubs playing, their ability to win tight, low-scoring games kept the Rabbitohs at the top of the table. Injuries to their pack in 1988 saw them decline despite remedying their weakness in backline pace through acquiring Phil Blake
, but 1989 saw the Rabbitohs as the undisputed pace-setters until the finals, winning twelve games in a row through a watertight defence and skilful, solid backline play. 1990, however, was a disaster as Boyle, Andrews and Chisholm succumbed to injury and Fenech and Davidson declined. The Rabbitohs' watertight defence became incredibly thin and the team won only two games all season - actually conceding more tries in their last five games than in the entire 1989 home-and-away season. Piggins was axed as coach at the end of that year but took up a position as manager whilst the Rabbitohs, consistently in the lower reaches of the table and in desperate financial trouble.
In 2000 Piggins was awarded the Australian Sports Medal
for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.
Due to the National Rugby League's plans for a fourteen-team competition, the South Sydney club was excluded from the NRL premiership from the 2000 season. Piggins was the chairman of the South Sydney club during the legal battle against the NRL for re-inclusion in the premiership, which was achieved during 2001. He led the marches and even put up $3.2 million of his own money in a mortgage on the club's block of units adjacent to the leagues club. That year Piggins was awarded the Centenary Medal
"for service to the sport of rugby league" as the Rabbitohs returned to the playing field in 2002
. At the start of that year his book, Never Say Die: The Fight to save the Rabbitohs was published. Its title refers to the persistence needed to keep the South Sydney club in the top-level competition. In 2002, Piggins was further was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia
"for service to Rugby League football as an administrator, coach and player, and to the South Sydney community".
Also in 2002 he was replaced as chairman of the club by the laywer who led the battle with News for re-inclusion, Nick Pappas
.
Since 2003, the "George Piggins Medal" has been awarded by the South Sydney club to the Rabbitohs' best and fairest player of the season.
With the club's vote to allow Russell Crowe
and Peter Holmes à Court
's private ownership of the Rabbitohs, Piggins walked away from the South Sydney Club, as he didn't approve of what the new ownership represented.
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
(born 14 October 1944) is an Australian rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
personality. He is a former player, coach and administrator of the South Sydney Rabbitohs
South Sydney Rabbitohs
The South Sydney Rabbitohs are an Australian professional rugby league football team based in Redfern, a suburb of South-central Sydney, New South Wales. They participate in the National Rugby League premiership and are one of nine existing teams from the state capital...
club. Following their exclusion from the National Rugby League
National Rugby League
The National Rugby League is the top league of professional rugby league football clubs in Australasia. The NRL's main competition, called the Telstra Premiership , is contested by sixteen teams, fifteen of which are based in Australia with one based in New Zealand...
premiership at the end of the Super League war
Super League war
The Super League war is the common name given to the corporate dispute that was fought in and out of court during the mid-1990s between the Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation-backed Super League and the Kerry Packer and Optus Vision-backed Australian Rugby League organisations over broadcasting...
, Piggins also successfully led the Rabbitohs' battle for re-inclusion in the NRL in the early 2000s.
Playing career
Once a wharf labourer from the Southern Sydney suburb of MascotMascot, New South Wales
Mascot is a suburb in south-eastern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Mascot is located 7 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre of the City of Botany Bay...
, Piggins played the game as a hooker. He established himself in first grade in 1967 but was left out for Elwyn Walters
Elwyn Walters
Elwyn Walters was an Australian rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Eastern Suburbs clubs and for the Australian national side.Walters came to South Sydney in the mid-1960s from the Brisbane Norths club...
in the finals and took several years to re-establish himself in first grade. In 1971 Piggins played a superb game in the grand final when Walters was injured and late the following year finally established a permanent first grade berth for good. In 1974, with Walters leaving for Easts
Sydney Roosters
The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League and is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in Australian rugby league history, having won twelve New South Wales Rugby League...
, Piggins advanced so much that he played for New South Wales and the following year, despite Souths finishing last after winning only two of their last sixteen games, Piggins' toughness saw him represent Australia three times in the 1975 World Series
1975 Rugby League World Cup
The 1975 Rugby League World Cup was the seventh staging of rugby league football's World Cup tournament...
. The following year, he scored a memorable bustling try
Try
A try is the major way of scoring points in rugby league and rugby union football. A try is scored by grounding the ball in the opposition's in-goal area...
(one of only eight in 120 first grade games) against the Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...
and again played for New South Wales. With injuries catching up, however, Piggins retired at the end of 1978, but his experience and the skill of coach Jack Gibson
Jack Gibson (rugby league)
Jack Arthur Gibson OAM was an Australian rugby league identity – a player, commentator and most notably a coach...
that season was an important precursor for the Rabbitohs reaching the semis in 1980 after winning only one of their last eighteen games in 1977.
Post playing Piggins worked as a truck driver, eventually starting his own trucking business. He also invented a device which increased the rate at which trucks could be unloaded. His invention and business were later sold for millions of dollars.
Coaching career
In 1986, Piggins took over as first grade coachCoach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
and was awarded the Coca-Cola Rugby League Coach-of-the-Year award for taking South Sydney to the finals in his rookie year. With the work-rate of a relatively lightweight but extremely tough forward pack containing Les Davidson
Les Davidson
Les Davidson is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s. He played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and represented at both the State and national levels. His position of choice on the field was in the second row or as prop forward.Davidson...
, David Boyle
David Boyle (rugby league)
David Boyle is an Australian former professional rugby league player for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the New South Wales Rugby League competition. Boyle played in the forwards, chiefly in the front row, though he was lightweight even by the standards of the 1980s...
, Michael Andrews
Michael Andrews (rugby league)
Michael Andrews is an Australian former rugby league footballer, a lock forward of the late 1980s and early 1990s who captained the South Sydney Rabbitohs.-Career:...
, Wayne Chisholm, skipper Mario Fenech
Mario Fenech
Mario Fenech is a Maltese-Australian rugby league personality. He is a former player of the game for New South Wales, and is a regular guest on The Footy Show. His favoured position was as Hooker, where he represented NSW. In his later career he became a Prop-forward...
and young giant Ian Roberts, Piggins took the Rabbitohs into the finals again in his second season. Although they scored the fewest tries of the thirteen clubs playing, their ability to win tight, low-scoring games kept the Rabbitohs at the top of the table. Injuries to their pack in 1988 saw them decline despite remedying their weakness in backline pace through acquiring Phil Blake
Phil Blake
Phil Blake is an Australian former rugby league footballer of the 1980s and 90s who represented New South Wales on one occasion. Originally a half back, Blake developed into a utility player and played first grade matches in all the backline positions, as well as at hooker and lock...
, but 1989 saw the Rabbitohs as the undisputed pace-setters until the finals, winning twelve games in a row through a watertight defence and skilful, solid backline play. 1990, however, was a disaster as Boyle, Andrews and Chisholm succumbed to injury and Fenech and Davidson declined. The Rabbitohs' watertight defence became incredibly thin and the team won only two games all season - actually conceding more tries in their last five games than in the entire 1989 home-and-away season. Piggins was axed as coach at the end of that year but took up a position as manager whilst the Rabbitohs, consistently in the lower reaches of the table and in desperate financial trouble.
Administration
In 2000 Piggins was awarded the Australian Sports MedalAustralian Sports Medal
The Australian Sports Medal was an award given during 2000 to recognise achievements in Australian sport.Recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, office holders, and people who maintained sporting facilities and services. Over 18,000 Medals were...
for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.
Due to the National Rugby League's plans for a fourteen-team competition, the South Sydney club was excluded from the NRL premiership from the 2000 season. Piggins was the chairman of the South Sydney club during the legal battle against the NRL for re-inclusion in the premiership, which was achieved during 2001. He led the marches and even put up $3.2 million of his own money in a mortgage on the club's block of units adjacent to the leagues club. That year Piggins was awarded the Centenary Medal
Centenary Medal
The Centenary Medal is an award created by the Australian Government in 2001. It was established to commemorate the Centenary of Federation of Australia and to honour people who have made a contribution to Australian society or government...
"for service to the sport of rugby league" as the Rabbitohs returned to the playing field in 2002
National Rugby League season 2002
The 2002 NRL season was the 95th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fifth to be run by the National Rugby League...
. At the start of that year his book, Never Say Die: The Fight to save the Rabbitohs was published. Its title refers to the persistence needed to keep the South Sydney club in the top-level competition. In 2002, Piggins was further was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia
Order of Australia
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, "for the purpose of according recognition to Australian citizens and other persons for achievement or for meritorious service"...
"for service to Rugby League football as an administrator, coach and player, and to the South Sydney community".
Also in 2002 he was replaced as chairman of the club by the laywer who led the battle with News for re-inclusion, Nick Pappas
Nick Pappas
Dr Nicholas George Pappas is a solicitor from Sydney, Australia, and also the current chairman of the South Sydney Rabbitohs Rugby league club. He was also chairman of the club from April 2003 to June 2006...
.
Since 2003, the "George Piggins Medal" has been awarded by the South Sydney club to the Rabbitohs' best and fairest player of the season.
With the club's vote to allow Russell Crowe
Russell Crowe
Russell Ira Crowe is a New Zealander Australian actor , film producer and musician. He came to international attention for his role as Roman General Maximus Decimus Meridius in the 2000 historical epic film Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Actor, a...
and Peter Holmes à Court
Peter Holmes à Court
Peter Holmes à Court is an Australian businessman and a joint owner of the National Rugby League team South Sydney Rabbitohs together with Russell Crowe....
's private ownership of the Rabbitohs, Piggins walked away from the South Sydney Club, as he didn't approve of what the new ownership represented.
Sources
- George Piggins at eraofthebiff.com
- "In George We Trust" - Australian Story Transcript
- George Piggins stats at rugbyleagueproject.com
- George Piggins at yesterdayshero.com.au
- George Piggins at nrlstats.com