Robert Bax (1925-2000) was an Australian

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 and coach. During the 1940s, he played in the

Brisbane Rugby League premiership The Brisbane Rugby League premiership was a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership und ...

as a half back for the Brothers club and also played for the

Brisbane rugby league team The Brisbane Rugby League team, also called Brisbane Capitals, was an Australian representative rugby league football side made up of players from the Brisbane Rugby League's first-grade premiership clubs. The team was assembled occasionally fr ...

in the

Bulimba Cup The Bulimba Cup was an Australian rugby league football competition contested by the Brisbane, Ipswich and Toowoomba representative rugby league sides during the mid 20th century. In 1931, a team from Lismore, New South Wales participated. It wa ...

. From 1956 to 1970 Bax coached Brothers and Norths, reaching 14

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

s and taking nine premierships. Bax inherited the coaching role at the Brisbane Rugby League's reigning premiers, Northern Suburbs RLFC from

Clive Churchill Clive Bernard Churchill Order of Australia, AM (21 January 1927 – 9 August 1985) was an Australians, Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach in the mid-20th century. An Australian Kangaroos, Australian international and Ne ...

in 1960 and won the premiership again that year. Norths then became the first club in BRL history to win three consecutive first grade premierships when they defeated

Fortitude Valley Fortitude Valley (often called "The Valley" by local residents) is an inner suburb of the City of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. In the , Fortitude Valley had a population of 9,708 people. The suburb features two pedestri ...

29–5 in the 1961

in front of a record club crowd of 19,824 at

Lang Park Brisbane Stadium (Lang Park), currently known as Suncorp Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in the suburb of Milton, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Nicknamed The Cauldron, it is a three-tiered rectangular sporting st ...

. Bax extended this record winning streak to six, claiming premierships again in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He coached the side to two more grand final wins in 1966 and 1969. In 1971, Bax became the first coach to sign an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

player: Barry Spring, who was 26 and had never played a game of rugby league. Spring frequently kicked

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. Consequently, ...

s from anywhere within a 60-yard range, leading to a rule change, with two points for a field goal changing to one point in 1971. In 1992, Bax was part of a six-man panel selected by ''

Rugby League Week ''Rugby League Week'' (frequently abbreviated to RLW) was the highest selling Australian rugby league magazine, ahead of major competitor '' Big League''. It was published weekly (on Wednesdays) during the Australian rugby league season, which ...

'' to name an all-time greatest team to celebrate

rugby league in Australia In Australia, rugby league is a popular spectator and participation sport which has been played since 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. According to Ausplay in 2024, there were 174, ...

's 85th year. Bob Bax's son, Robert Bax, operated the Brisbane law firm, Robert Bax and Associates. Bax died in 2000 at age 74 after a long illness and was buried in

Nudgee Cemetery Nudgee Cemetery & Crematorium is a large Roman Catholic cemetery at 493 St Vincents Road, Nudgee, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The cemetery opened in 1867 and is still operating. Over 31,000 people are buried there. Services The cemetery ...

. The Norths Devils' award for "Player most likely to succeed" was named the Bob Bax Award in his honour. In 2008, the Norths clubs' 75th anniversary year, Bax was named as coach of their all-time greatest team.

References

External links

Robert Dean (Bob) Bax (1925–2000)
by Greg Mallory at

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

1925 births 2000 deaths Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Brisbane rugby league team players Burials at Nudgee Cemetery Norths Devils coaches Past Brothers players Queensland rugby league team coaches Rugby league players from Brisbane Sportsmen from Queensland 20th-century Australian sportsmen Rugby league halfbacks {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1920s-stub