Australian rugby league and rugby union footballer
Rugby player
Scott Robert Gourley
(born 18 July 1968) is an Australian former
rugby league
and
rugby union
footballer who played from 1986 to 1998 and achieved the status of a
dual-code international
representing his country in both sports. He made five Test appearances for the
Wallabies
and switched to rugby league in 1990 playing for the
St George Dragons
, the
Sydney Roosters
and making one Test appearance for the
Kangaroos
.
Background
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Gourley was born in
Hornsby, New South Wales
, Australia, raised in Narrabri and attended Narrabri High School.
[2]
He studied economics at the
University of Sydney
.
[3]
He is of Irish descent through his father, the former Irish rugby union international
Robin Gourley
, who played in the winning St George rugby league premiership winning sides of
1965
and
1966
.
Rugby union career
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Before moving to Sydney, Gourley captained the Australian Schoolboys rugby union side on their 1986 tour of New Zealand. His Sydney club rugby was played with the
Eastwood RUFC
.
[2]
He was selected for the
1988 Australia rugby union tour of England, Scotland and Italy
and made his Test debut for the
Wallabies
against Scotland at Murrayfield scoring a try on debut.
[2]
He played a Test against Italy on that same tour.
[2]
He earned five international rugby union Test caps between 1988 and 1989 as a flanker. He was a prominent member of the side, with some fearsome displays of running against the touring
British Lions
in 1989.
[2]
Gourley is remembered for a magnificent
try
scored in the first Test of that series at the
Sydney Football Stadium
, running through several tacklers to cross the line at the northern end of the ground.
Rugby league career
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Switching to rugby league in 1990, Gourley joined the
St George Dragons
where his father had played. Scott played 128 games for the Dragons from 1990 to 1996 including being in three losing grand final sides: 1992 and 1993 against the
Brisbane Broncos
, and 1996 against
Manly
. In 1997, he joined the
Sydney Roosters
and played 45 matches in his two seasons at the club.
[4]
Gourley represented
Australia
in 1991 in a Test series against
Papua New Guinea
. His international rugby league debut in the first Test against PNG in
Goroka
saw him become Australia's 39th
dual-code rugby international
, following
Ricky Stuart
and preceding
Andrew Walker
. He is the last Australian dual-code international to have debuted in rugby league following a rugby union representative career. All others since have made the converse switch.
In addition to representing Australia, he was selected for
New South Wales
in one
State of Origin
match in 1993.
Personal
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Following his retirement in 1998, Gourley became a private investor. In a 2011 interview he confirmed that due to his wife's business career he had chosen to be a stay-at-home father for his three children whilst managing personal share market and real estate investments.
[3]
Sources
[
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]
- Andrews, Malcolm (2006)
The ABC of Rugby League
Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
External links
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