Christopher Anderson (born 2 May 1952) is an Australian former professional

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 1970s and 1980s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

ed in the 1990s and 2000s. An

Australian Kangaroos The Australian national rugby league team, the Kangaroos, have represented Australia in senior men's rugby league football competitions since the establishment of the game in Australia in 1908. Administered by the Australian Rugby League Comm ...

and New South Wales Blues representative winger, he featured in

Canterbury-Bankstown Canterbury-Bankstown is a customary region of Sydney, Australia, in Inner South-Western Sydney. The region is located to the north of the St George region (from which it is separated by Wolli Creek) and to the south of the Inner West region ...

's third grand final win and captained Halifax to both League and Cup success. As a coach, Anderson took Australia to victory in the 2000 World Cup victory and coached both Canterbury-Bankstown and

Melbourne Storm The Melbourne Storm is a rugby league football club based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia that participates in the National Rugby League (NRL). The club plays its home games at AAMI Park, and wears a purple and navy blu ...

to premiership wins. He is also a member of the Halifax Hall of Fame. His nickname was "Opes".

Playing career

Anderson was a who was recruited by Peter Moore from

Forbes, New South Wales Forbes is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, located on the Newell Highway between Parkes and West Wyalong. According to the , Forbes has a population of 9,319. Forbes is probably named after Sir Francis For ...

, where he attended

Red Bend Catholic College Red Bend Catholic College is an independent Roman Catholic co-educational secondary day and boarding school located in in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. The College is run by the Marist Brothers, a religious institut ...

. Anderson gave the club a vital tryscoring power which had been quite absent from Belmore throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1974, when Canterbury-Bankstown reached the Grand Final, Anderson scored sixteen tries to surpass the previous club season record of fourteen held jointly by Morrie Murphy in 1947 and Barry Stenhouse in 1953. During the 1974–75 season Anderson played in England for

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

. He played left wing in Widnes’ 2–3 defeat by

Bradford Northern The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

in the 1974–75 Player's No.6 Trophy Final at

Wilderspool Stadium Wilderspool Stadium was a rugby league stadium in Warrington, England. The ground was Warrington RLFC's old ground before moving to the Halliwell Jones Stadium. History In 1898, Warrington RLFC moved to the Wilderspool Stadium. A 10-year l ...

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

on 25 January 1975. During the 1975 Australian season, Anderson was flown to England to play on the wing for

in their 14–7 victory over

in the

1975 Challenge Cup It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 10 May 1975. Anderson surpassed Eddie Burns’ club record for Canterbury-Bankstown of 65 tries in 1979. He represented

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 eight tests, including the 1975 World Cup and two

Kangaroo Tour Kangaroo Tour is the name given to Australia national rugby league team tours of Great Britain and France, tours to New Zealand and the one-off tour to Papua New Guinea (1991). The first Kangaroo Tour was in 1908. Traditionally, Kangaroo Tours too ...

s in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

and

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

, although several bouts of

glandular fever A gland is a cell or an organ in an animal's body that produces and secretes different substances that the organism needs, either into the bloodstream or into a body cavity or outer surface. A gland may also function to remove unwanted substances ...

had severely limited his appearances in the two seasons preceding the latter tour. Anderson also represented

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in the experimental

1980 State of Origin game The 1980 State of Origin game was the first game between the Queensland Maroons and the New South Wales Blues rugby league teams to be played under " state of origin" selection rules. It was the third match of 1980s annual interstate series betw ...

.In his last representative match in the last Origin encounter of 1983, Anderson became the first ever player to score a hat-trick of tries in a State of Origin match, although the Blues lost 22–43. That season Anderson scored nineteen tries for the Bulldogs, a club record until Nigel Vagana scored twenty-three

in 2002 IN, In or in may refer to: Dans * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independen ...

. After struggling with a broken arm during 1984, and being dropped to reserve grade for the latter part of the NSWRL season, Anderson became

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of Halifax between late 1984 and May 1988 where he enjoyed great success, including winning the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

during the 1985–86 season, and played in the 19–18 victory over St. Helens in the

1987 Challenge Cup Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader Mohammad Najibu ...

final at

on Saturday 2 May 1987. He played stand-off in almost all his games for Halifax.

Coaching career

Anderson is one of the few people to play and coach competition winning sides in both

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He is also one of the few people to coach two different clubs to

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

NSWRL The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission.It was registered on 21 ...

premiership success. Anderson returned to Australia after playing/coaching in the British 1987–88 season and was appointed coach of the

Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs The Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Belmore, a suburb in the Canterbury-Bankstown region of Sydney. They compete in the NRL Telstra Premiership, as well as competitions facilitated by ...

Under 21s team for the 1989 season. Despite being linked to the

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 ...

first grade coaching job after Frank Stanton was not reappointed, Anderson was quickly appointed as Canterbury's first grade coach for

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. He enjoyed eight fruitful seasons at Canterbury, including the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Premiership triumph over a Manly team that had won its first fifteen games and lost only twice before the Grand Final. The formation of the

saw Anderson become their inaugural coach. His son,

Ben Ben is frequently used as a shortened version of the given names Benjamin, Benedict, Bennett, Benson or Ebenezer, and is also a given name in its own right. Ben meaning "son of" is also found in Arabic as ''Ben'' (dialectal Arabic) or ''bin ...

, played 17 games for Melbourne. Anderson was appointed coach of the Australian national team in March 1999, replacing Wayne Bennett. Then he guided the Storm to Premiership success when they defeated the

St. George Illawarra Dragons The St. George Illawarra Dragons are an Australian professional rugby league football club, representing both the Illawarra and St George regions of New South Wales. The club has competed in the National Rugby League (NRL) since 1999 after a j ...

in the

1999 NRL Grand Final The 1999 NRL Grand Final was the conclusive and premiership-deciding game of the 1999 NRL season. It was contested by the competition's two newest clubs: the Melbourne Storm, competing in only its second year (having finished the regular seas ...

. Anderson was coach of the Australian team to compete in the end of season

1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations The 1999 Rugby League Tri-Nations series was contested by Australia, Great Britain and New Zealand in 1999. It was the first multi-national rugby league tournament to feature the sport's three world powers since the 1989–1992 Rugby League Wor ...

tournament. In the final against

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 ...

the Kangaroos won 22–20. After seven rounds (and only two wins) of the

2001 NRL season The 2001 NRL season was the 94th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the fourth run by the National Rugby League. Also called the 2001 Telstra Premiership (due to sponsorship from Telstra Corporation) it was contested ...

Anderson quit as

coach. On the

2001 Kangaroo Tour The 2001 Kangaroo Tour was the Australia national rugby league team's nineteenth Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. The truncated tour featured only the three Ashes series Test matches against Great Britain. The 2001 tour was almost abandoned du ...

, when coaching

, Anderson, was taken to a

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

hospital after complaining of chest pains during the first half of the deciding third test match against

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

at the

JJB Stadium The Brick Community Stadium is a multi-use stadium in Robin Park in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. It is used by Wigan Warriors rugby league club and Wigan Athletic football club. The stadium is owned by local businessman, Mike Danson, w ...

. He had suffered a non-fatal

myocardial infarction A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

but made a full recovery. Anderson was appointed coach of the

Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks The Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks are an Australian professional rugby league club based in the Sutherland Shire of Southern Sydney, Southern Sydney, New South Wales. Cronulla compete in the National Rugby League (NRL), Australasia's premier rugb ...

for two seasons in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

and

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, getting them one game short of the Grand Final in 2002. Anderson was sacked in dramatic circumstances over disagreements with the club's management on the future direction of the team, largely centred on his decision to replace the existing ,

Preston Campbell Thomas Leon Preston Campbell (born 7 June 1977) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or in the National Rugby League (NRL) for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, the Penrith Panthers (with whom he won t ...

with new signing

Brett Kimmorley Brett "Noddy" Kimmorley (born 15 September 1976) is an Australian rugby league coach and former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s, 2000s, & early 2010’s. A New South Wales interstate and Australian international re ...

in the starting side. He also continually picked his son, Jarrad, at the expense of Matt King, who ended up moving to the

where his career blossomed. At the end of the

2003 NRL season The 2003 NRL premiership was the 96th season of professional rugby league football in Australia and the sixth run by the National Rugby League. Fifteen teams competed, with the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles returning in place of their failed joint ...

, he went on the 2003 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France, coaching Australia to victory over

in what would be the last time the two nations contested an

Ashes series The Ashes is a Test cricket series played biennially between England and Australia. The term originated in a satirical obituary published in a British newspaper, ''The Sporting Times'', immediately after Australia's 1882 victory at The Oval, i ...

. After five successful seasons Anderson's tenure as coach of Australia came to a halt following the successful 2003 whitewash of

. In July 2004, despite having never previously coached a rugby union team Anderson was appointed coach of the Newport Gwent Dragons for a two-year deal. Despite finishing fourth in the

Celtic League The Celtic League is a pan-Celtic organization, founded in 1961, that aims to promote modern Celtic identity and culture in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man – referred to as the Celtic nations; it places pa ...

that season, his one-year contract was not renewed. Anderson accepted a two-year contract with the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

as their first grade coach for the 2007 and 2008 NRL seasons. However, Anderson stepped down from the job late into the 2007 season, after eleven losses from sixteen matches, including a horrific 56–0 loss to Manly. He was replaced by former Sydney Roosters

Brad Fittler Bradley Scott Fittler (born 5 February 1972), also known by the nickname of "Freddy", is an Australian rugby league commentator, television presenter, and former player. Fittler captained both New South Wales rugby league team, New South Wales ...

. Anderson currently coaches the Mullumbimby Giants first grade side on the NSW Far North Coast in the NRRRL (Northern Rivers Regional Rugby League) competition.

Recognition

Anderson is a Halifax Hall of Fame Inductee and was awarded the

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, off ...

on 24 October 2000 for his contribution to Australian rugby league.

References

External links

Player Details at stateoforigin.com.auBulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Chris 1952 births Living people Australia national rugby league team coaches Australia national rugby league team players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union coaches Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks coaches Dragons RFC coaches Expatriate rugby league coaches Halifax Panthers captains Halifax Panthers coaches Halifax Panthers players Hull Kingston Rovers players Melbourne Storm coaches New South Wales Rugby League State of Origin players Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Rugby league players from New South Wales Rugby league wingers Sydney Roosters coaches Widnes Vikings players 20th-century Australian sportsmen