Colin Scott (born 23 March 1960) is an Australian 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 played in the 1970s and 1980s. Primarily a , he was an inaugural player for the

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

State of Origin team and the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Red Hill, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos compete in the National Rugby League (NRL) and play their home games at ...

Background

Born in

Charters Towers, Queensland Charters Towers is a rural town in the Charters Towers Region, Queensland, Australia. It is by road south-west from Townsville on the Flinders Highway, Queensland, Flinders Highway. During the last quarter of the 19th century, the town boomed a ...

, Scott is of

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

descent and played his junior rugby league for Souths

Townsville The City of Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 201,313 as of 2024, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland and Northern Australia (specifically, the parts of Australia north of ...

, alongside future teammate

Gene Miles Gene Miles (born 21 July 1959) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and Queensland State of Origin representative , he played his club football in the Brisbane Rugby Le ...

Playing career

Scott played senior rugby league for Souths Townsville, where he first represented

in the interstate series in 1979. In 1980, he moved to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, joining the Easts Tigers. That season, he was selected at fullback for the first ever State of Origin game, despite being in reserve grade at the time. In

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, Scott moved to the

Wynnum Manly Seagulls The Wynnum Manly Seagulls are an Australian rugby league football club based at Kougari Oval, in Brisbane's bayside suburb of Manly West, Queensland, Manly West, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum, Queensland, Wynnum. They competed in the Bri ...

, starting at fullback in their BRL's

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 ...

victory over

Souths Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

a year later. Despite being the incumbent Queensland fullback for 3 years, Scott missed a place on the

1982 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1982 Kangaroo tour was the fifteenth Kangaroo tour where the Australian national rugby league team played a number of matches against British and French rugby league teams, in addition to the Rugby league#Competitions, Test matches. The Aust ...

. He would go on to make his Test debut at fullback for

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 their second Test match 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 ...

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 ...

in 1983 after an injury to incumbent Test fullback Greg Brentnall. Despite 25 appearances for his state during his career (including 17 State of Origin appearances), Scott did not represent Australia again. Scott was sent off 18 minutes into Wynnum's semi-final win over Southern Suburbs in

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

, and subsequently missed the grand final. In

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, Scott joined English club

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

, spending two seasons with the club. That year, he played fullback in their 18–22 loss to

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers (often abbreviated to Hull KR) are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England. The club play home games at Craven Park, Hull, Craven Park and compete in Super League, the top tier of B ...

in the

Yorkshire Cup Final played at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. In

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

, he was Castleford's fullback in their 31–24 victory over Hull F.C. in the 1986 Yorkshire Cup Final also played at Headingley. Scott played for Queensland in the Interstate series and State of Origin series from 1979 to 1987, until losing his place as first choice fullback to former

and then-

Canberra Raiders The Canberra Raiders are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the national capital city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. They have competed in Australasia's elite rugby league competition, the National Rugb ...

fullback Gary Belcher in

, though he was recalled to the team on the wing for Games 2 and 3 in

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

, mostly due to injury to regular Maroons centre and goal kicker

Mal Meninga Malcolm Norman Meninga (; born 8 July 1960) is an Australian professional rugby league coach and a former professional rugby league footballer. Meninga is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the game's history. He enjoyed a long ca ...

(the first of his 4 broken arms in 2 years). During the series, Scott came in for heavy criticism for his poor goal kicking and handling errors. Scott played his last game for Queensland from the bench in 1987 series exhibition game at Veterans Memorial Stadium in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

.1987 State of Origin series – Long Beach
/ref> In 1988, Scott joined the newly established

, who were admitted to the

New South Wales Rugby League 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 ...

. He spent just one season at the club, playing 14 games, including their first ever premiership game, a 44–8 thumping of the reigning

Winfield Cup The Winfield Cup was an Australian rugby league trophy awarded to the winner of the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) Grand Final from 1982 to 1994, and then to the winner of the newly-founded Australian Rugby League (ARL) Grand Fi ...

Premiers Manly-Warringah at Lang Park.

Post-playing career

In 2000, Scott 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 ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
Colin Scott at unofficial Foley Shield websiteQueensland representatives at qrl.com.auColin Scott at thecastlefordtigers.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Colin 1960 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England Brisbane Broncos players Brisbane rugby league team players Castleford Tigers players Indigenous Australian rugby league players People from Charters Towers Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Rugby league fullbacks Rugby league wingers Rugby league players from Queensland Wynnum Manly Seagulls players 20th-century Australian sportsmen