Tom Gorman was 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...

 player. He was a Centre three-quarter for the Australian national team. He played in 10 Tests between 1924 and 1930 as captain on 7 occasions.

Born in Charters Towers, Queensland

Charters Towers, Queensland

Charters Towers is a city in northern Queensland, Australia. It is located 137 kilometres inland from Townsville on the Flinders Highway. In 2006 the population was 7,979 people, some 450 fewer than in the 2001 census. During the last quarter of the 19th century the town boomed as the rich gold...

, Gorman was the first Queenslander to lead a Kangaroo touring side to Britain. He has been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century

Club career

As an old boy of St. Mary's Christian Brothers College Toowoomba, Gorman first played for the Past Christian Brothers Football Club in 1918 when the Club was still playing rugby union. The Toowoomba Rugby Union affiliated with rugby league in 1919 and he played with Brothers and the Toowoomba Clydesdales

Toowoomba Clydesdales

The Toowoomba Clydesdales are a rugby league football club based in Toowoomba, Queensland, named after the Scottish horse breed. They played in the Queensland Wizard Cup since the competition began in 1996 but no longer play in this competition....

 representative side from 1919 until 1925. In 1924–25, alongside Herb Steinohrt

Herb Steinohrt

Herb Steinohrt was an Australian rugby league player. He was a front row forward for the Australian national team...

 he was in the Toowoomba sides which beat all comers including Sydney premiers Souths, Brisbane, Ipswich and visiting representative sides including New South Wales, Victoria, Great Britain and New Zealand.
He moved to the Christian Brothers Football Club in Brisbane in 1926 becoming that club's first professional player. He played five seasons in Brisbane till the end of the 1930 season. Gorman played with the Christian Brothers Football Club

Brothers Old Boys

The Brothers Old Boys are an Australian rugby union club, based in Brisbane,Queensland. The team currently competes in the Queensland Premier Rugby competition against nine of the states best Rugby Union clubs. The club was established in 1905 and has won 27 premierships since...

 from 1926 to 1928 and was one of the co-founders of the Past Brothers RLFC and played with them from 1929 to 1930.

Queensland representative career

Gorman first debuted for Queensland in 1921. He played in the champion Queensland teams that defeated New South Wales

New South Wales Rugby League team

The New South Wales rugby league team has represented the Australian state of New South Wales in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1907. Administered by the New South Wales Rugby League, the team competes in the annual State of Origin series against arch-rivals, the...

 in five consecutive interstate series (1922–1926).

He captained Queensland to a series win over New South Wales in 1928, then through to his last playing season in 1930.

Australian representative career

Gorman made his Test debut against England in the 1924 Ashes series as one of seven Queenslanders to appear in the 1st Test. From 1924 to 1930 he appeared in ten consecutive Ashes tests.

His first appearance as captain in the 1st test loss to Great Britain in Brisbane in 1928 marked the first occasion that the Kangaroos wore jerseys of green and gold. Previously they had worn the merged blue and maroon colours of NSW and Queensland.

Post playing

In retirement Gorman went into the hotel business in Brisbane. He served the Queensland Rugby League as an administrator.

In 2007 he was inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame

Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame

The Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame honors players who have shown exceptional skill at rugby league, all-time great coaches and referees, and other major contributors to the game who are Australian...

. In February 2008, Gorman was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL

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...

 and ARL

Australian Rugby League

The Australian Rugby League is the governing body for the sport of rugby league in Australia. It is made up of state bodies, including the New South Wales Rugby League and the Queensland Rugby League...

 to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In June 2008, he was chosen in the Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century

Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century

The Queensland Rugby League Team of the Century is a hypothetical team comprising the best players who have played for Queensland to form a team for 1909 until 2008. Rugby league in Queensland was initiated in 1909 with the Queensland Rugby Football League competition, which evolved into the...

 at centre.

Sources

• Queensland Team of the Century named – article at nz.leagueunlimited.com
• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Tom Gorman at nqsports.com.au
• Queensland representatives at qrl.com.au