Greg Veivers (born 22 September 1949) is an

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

former

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who captained

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 ...

in a

Rugby League World Cup The Rugby League World Cup is an international rugby league competition contested by senior men's national teams who each represent member nations of the International Rugby League who run and administer the tournament. The tournament has be ...

match in

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...

. He represented Australia in seven World Cup matches from 1975 and 1977. He was a front-rower and a regular Queensland state representative from 1970 to 1978.

Background

Veivers was born in

Beaudesert, Queensland Beaudesert ( Yugambeh: ''Yilbagan'') is a rural town and locality in the Scenic Rim Region of Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Beaudesert had a population of 6,752 people. Beaudesert is the administrative centre for the Scenic R ...

, Australia.

Early life and sporting family

Veivers' father, Jack Veivers, played rugby league for Souths Brisbane and Queensland; his cousin

Mick Veivers Michael Desmond Veivers (born 12 August 1939) was the Member for Southport from 1987 to 2001 and was Minister for Emergency Services and Sport in the Borbidge Government. He had previously been a Rugby League international. Veivers was born a ...

represented the Australia in the 1960s, and his cousin,

Tom Veivers Thomas Robert Veivers (born 6 April 1937) is an Australian former cricketer, teacher, politician and public administrator who played in 21 cricket Test matches between 1963 and 1967. He is the great-uncle of Jack Wildermuth. Cricket career ...

, played Test cricket for

. Greg's brother

Phil Phil may refer to: * Phil (given name), a shortened version of masculine and feminine names * Phill, a given name also spelled "Phil" * Phil, Kentucky, United States * Phil (film), ''Phil'' (film), a 2019 film * -phil-, a lexical fragment, used as ...

played 400 first grade rugby league games in England in the 1980s for

St Helens R.F.C. St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

and later coached Huddersfield and Bradford. Their sister Trish married Australian rugby league identity Wayne Bennett, the former national, state and multiple-premiership winning coach. After playing rugby at school in Toowoomba, Greg Veivers was graded in rugby league by the Souths Brisbane Colts side in 1967 and made his first grade début in 1968. He played his entire first grade career with the club. Veivers also had a spell playing in England for

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

alongside fellow Queenslander and future brother-in-law Wayne Bennett.

Rugby league career

Veivers was selected as a reserve for Queensland in the first interstate match against NSW in 1970. In those days before State of Origin the many Queensland stars who headed south to Sydney club football then had to give up representative honours for their home state. Veivers remained true to Queensland and was a mainstay of the side for the next eight years representing on 16 occasions. He became Queensland captain in 1974. He was selected for Australia for the 1975 World Series competition and he played in sides captained by

Graeme Langlands Graeme Frank Langlands, Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, MBE, (2 September 1941 – 20 January 2018), also known by the nickname of "Changa", was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played from the 19 ...

John Brass John Brass (born 7 October 1946) is an Australian former rugby union and rugby league footballer – a dual-code international. He made twelve international representative rugby union appearances with the Wallabies from 1966 to 1968 and six rep ...

and

Arthur Beetson Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson Medal of the Order of Australia, OAM (21 January 1945 – 1 December 2011

. In 1977 a World Series was hosted by Australia and New Zealand against Great Britain and France. Veivers was honoured with selection as captain for Australia's 27–12 win against New Zealand. Veivers played for Queensland in 1978 but didn't represent for his country again. A blood clot suffered in a midweek game in 1975 recurred in 1979 and he retired.

Subsequent career

Veivers had an insurance business in Brisbane. He was a member of the Queensland Coaching and Development panel for 10 years and a selector in the mid 90s for the Queensland Super League team.

Matches played

Footnotes

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney
Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veivers, Greg 1949 births Living people Australia national rugby league team captains Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Huddersfield Giants players Rugby league players from Queensland Rugby league props Souths Logan Magpies players

Greg Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (sometimes spelled " Gregg") is also a surname. People with the name *Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people *Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadian b ...

Sportspeople from Beaudesert, Queensland 20th-century Australian sportsmen