Brian Norton (27 December 1944 – 22 April 2018) nicknamed "Chicka" 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 who played in the 1960s and 1970s and coached in the 1980s. He played in the

NSWRFL premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

for

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

and

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

as a prop.

Early life

Norton was born and raised in

and played his junior rugby league in the area. Norton then moved to Tamworth and was selected to play in the country representative side in 1967.

Playing career

Norton was graded by the club he supported as a child, the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears are an Australian rugby league football club based in Cammeray on Sydney's North Shore (Sydney), North Shore. The club currently competes in the NSW Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL s ...

in 1968. Norton spent three years at Norths but the club struggled on the field finishing near the bottom of the table. In 1971, Norton joined the

St George Dragons The St. George Dragons are an Australian rugby league, rugby league football club from the St George, Sydney, St George District in Sydney, New South Wales that played in the top level New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales competition ...

but did not feature in the club's finals campaign or grand final loss to South Sydney that year. In 1972, Norton featured more prominently for St George and played in both the club's finals matches as they made it to the preliminary final before being defeated by Eastern Suburbs. St George then qualified for the finals the following year with Norton featuring in both games against Newtown which ended in defeat. In 1975, Norton re-joined North Sydney and spent one last season at the club as they finished ninth on the table before retiring as a player.

Coaching career

Norton began his coaching career when he replaced Gregory Hawick as coach of North Sydney midway through the 1985 season. At the time of coming in as coach, North Sydney were in danger of finishing last on the table but he guided North Sydney to safety with an 11th-placed finish. Norton is credited with bringing back a fighting spirit to the Norths club and he instilled a motto for the team to follow which was “The real winners are those who lose but keep fighting". In his first full season as coach, Norton guided Norths to the finals in 1986. At the time, Norths had only managed to qualify for the finals on two occasions in the last 20 years before this. Norths went on to lose their elimination final against Balmain played at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. Despite having a successful season, Norton stood down as coach and was replaced by Frank Stanton for the 1987 season. Even though Norton's tenure at the club was short, his impact on the club changed the culture at Norths and set them on a path over the next decade to go from easy beats to title contenders. After leaving Norths, Norton went and coached in Darwin before returning to North Sydney and became a board member at the club.

References

1944 births 2018 deaths Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players North Sydney Bears coaches North Sydney Bears players Rugby league props Rugby league players from Sydney St. George Dragons players Country New South Wales rugby league team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1940s-stub