Denis John Pittard (born 8 December 1945) is 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, an attacking who played in the 1960s and 1970s for the Western Suburbs, South Sydney and

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

as well as the Australian national representative side. He was known as "The Sneak", "The Phanthom" and "The Scarlet Pimpernel".

Playing career

Pittard played 46 games with Western Suburbs between 1965 and 1967, scoring 14 tries. He played 121 games with South Sydney between 1967 and 1973, scoring 56 tries. He played in the 1968, 1970 and 1971 victorious

Rabbitohs The South Sydney District Rugby League Football Club, also known as the South Sydney Rabbitohs, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). ...

Grand Final teams. He became the first player to win two

Rothmans Medal The Rothmans Medal was the premier individual award in the New South Wales Rugby League and Brisbane Rugby League competitions, and later in the Australian Rugby League, which was given to the player voted by referees as the best and fairest in ...

s in 1969 and 1971. He played 35 games with

between 1974 and 1975, scoring 11 tries and 28 goals. Pittard wanted to play another season in 1976 but announced his retirement after receiving an opportunity to study outside Australia. Pittard represented 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 two Test matches (1969–1970) and appeared five times for New South Wales (1969–1972). Pittard toured New Zealand with the Australian side in 1969 and was selected in the 1970 Australian

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

squad. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 433.ARL Annual Report 2005, page 54

References

Sources

* ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players – South Sydney Rabbitohs'', Alan Whiticker & Glen Hudson, Bas Publishing, 2005. 1945 births Living people Australian rugby league players South Sydney Rabbitohs players Western Suburbs Magpies players Australia national rugby league team players Parramatta Eels players South Sydney Rabbitohs captains Sportsmen from Victoria (state) Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby league five-eighths New South Wales rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1940s-stub