Des V. McGovern (1928 - 2013) was an Australian 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 1940s and 1950s. A

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 and Australia national representative winger, he played his club football in

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

, where he later become a successful coach and well-known radio match commentator.

Biography

Des McGovern was born in

Toowoomba, Queensland Toowoomba ( ), nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar', is a city on the border of South East Queensland and Darling Downs regions of Queensland, Australia. It is located west of Queensland's capital, Brisbane. The urban population of Toowoom ...

on 13 February 1928. He was a student at Brisbane's

Nudgee College St Joseph's Nudgee College (commonly referred to as Nudgee College or simply Nudgee) is an independent Catholic primary and secondary day and boarding school for boys, located in Boondall, a northern suburb of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Th ...

Playing career

McGovern started playing

football in Ipswich before moving to Toowoomba in 1947. He was first selected to represent Queensland in 1949. During the 1950s McGovern was a member of the Toowoomba

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 ...

teams, coached by Duncan Thompson. During the

1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand The 1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand was the first ever tour of Australasia by any French sports team in history. Puig Aubert captained the France national rugby league team who played 28 matches in total in both Austra ...

McGovern was selected to play on the wing for Queensland in their match against the touring Frenchmen, which ended in a 22-all draw. In 1952 he first gained selection for the

Australia national rugby league team 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 Com ...

, becoming Kangaroo No. 296. McGovern was selected as a winger for the 1952–53 Kangaroo tour. On the 1956–57 Kangaroo tour, he was selected to play in all three Test matches 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 ...

. McGovern retired having scored the most tries in the history of the

with 27.

Post-playing

Following his playing days, McGovern became a successful coach in Queensland country regions and Toowoomba, where he coached the Clydesdales. He also worked as a rugby league writer for the ''Downs Star'' and '' The Chronicle''. McGovern went on to become one of the

Darling Downs The Darling Downs is a farming region on the western slopes of the Great Dividing Range in southern Queensland, Australia. The Downs are to the west of South East Queensland and are one of the major regions of Queensland. The name was generally ...

region's best known radio sporting voices during a 36-year working partnership with broadcaster Pat O'Shea. The pair began their long association calling Toowoomba rugby league matches on radio station 4AK before moving to 4GR, 4WK and finally 102.7FM. From 1985 to 1987 McGovern was the president of Toowoomba's All Whites club. His son, Des McGovern, Jr. also played rugby league for the club. In 2008,

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 centenary year, McGovern was named on the wing of the Toowoomba and South West Team of the Century. McGovern retired from full-time commentary at the end of the 2010 season, aged 82. McGovern died on 8 February 2013 in St Andrew's Hospital, Toowoomba, five days short of his 85th birthday.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGovern, Des 1928 births 2013 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Queensland rugby league team players Rugby league players from Toowoomba Rugby league wingers Toowoomba Clydesdales players People educated at St Joseph's College, Nudgee 20th-century Australian sportsmen