Charlie Fox (27 July 1898 – January 1985) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player, a state and national representative second-rower who made 36 appearances for the Wallabies, playing in 17 Test matches and captained the national side on seven occasions (one Test match) in 1925. __TOC__

Representative career

Charles Fox was twenty-one years of age and playing for the Glebe-Balmain Club in Sydney when he was selected in 1919 to play in an invitation Australian XV against an AIF side, a match which marked a re-kindling of interest in

in Sydney following WWI. In 1920 he appeared three times for the New South Wales Waratahs against the All Blacks scoring a try in his representative debut. With no Queensland Rugby Union competition in place at that time the New South Wales Waratahs were the top

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n representative

side of the period and a number of Waratah matches of the 1920s played against full international opponents were in 1986 decreed by the Australian Rugby Union as Test matches. In 1921 he represented for New South Wales against the visiting Springboks and was selected to tour

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. He played in seven matches on tour including the Waratah's Test victory. He made representative appearances in 1922 against the New Zealand Maori and the All Blacks, played in three Tests against them in 1924 and in five matches against them in 1925. The 3rd test of 1925 played on 23 June at the Sydney Showground was Fox's sole appearance as the national captain. He was solid in further Test appearances against New Zealand in 1926. He was a tremendous lineout forward and one of the senior players for the 1927–28 Waratahs tour of Britain, France and Canada, picked as the tour's vice-captain under Johnnie Wallace. He played in ten of the first thirteen games of the trip until he suffered a severe leg injury in the tour match loss to Oxford University RFC. He was captain in that Oxford game and with no substitutes allowed, the Waratahs played the second half with 14 men and lost to the students 0–3. He recovered for the last four matches including the international against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

where Fox at least enjoyed a Test match victory. He retired at the end of Waratahs tour.

References

* Collection (1995) ''Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby'', Harper Collins Publishers Sydney * Howell, Max (2005) ''Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains'', Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Charlie 1898 births 1984 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia national rugby union team captains Australia international rugby union players People educated at Sydney Grammar School Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union locks Northern Suburbs Rugby Club players New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen