Douglas Allan McRitchie (31 July 1923 – 30 July 1998) 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 ...

player who played in the 1940s and 1950s. A

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 ...

state and

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 ...

national representative centre, he played his club football in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for the St. George club.

St. George Dragons career

McRitchie was a

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 ...

local junior who was graded in 1940. He had a long career with the club playing eight seasons in first grade between 1942 and 1950. McRitchie featured in three

Grand finals 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 ...

for the club. He was part of two sides who lost deciders -

1942 The Uppsala Conflict Data Program project estimates this to be the deadliest year in human history in terms of conflict deaths, placing the death toll at 4.62 million. However, the Correlates of War estimates that the prior year, 1941, was th ...

and

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

and saw success with the

1949 Events January * January 1 – A United Nations-sponsored ceasefire brings an end to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947. The war results in a stalemate and the division of Kashmir, which still continues as of 2025 * January 2 – Luis ...

premiership team. His career was disrupted during by

WWII World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he enlisted in the

AIF AIF, A.I.F., AiF or aif may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Argumenty i Fakty'' (AiF), a Russian newspaper * Australians in Film (AiF), a Los Angeles-based organisation for the promotion of Australian actors and filmmakers * Aspen Ideas ...

and he saw service in New Guinea with the 129 Australian Brigade. After demobilisation, he resumed his playing career at

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 ...

, and he captained and co-coached the club with head coach

Charlie Lynch Charlie Lynch (1891-1968) was an Australian rugby league coach of the 1920s and 1940s. He is known as a multi-premiership-winning coach. South Sydney Lynch is mainly remembered as a premiership winning coach of the South Sydney club. A prodigy ...

in the

1947 NSWRFL season The 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the fortieth season of Sydney’s top-level rugby league competition, Australia's first. For the first time, the number of clubs in the league reached double digits due to the admis ...

Representative career

McRitchie represented

on six occasions between 1948 and 1950. He was named in the 1948-49

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 ...

squad and played two Tests against Great Britain, two Tests against France and a further ten tour matches during that series. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 261

1950 Ashes win

He played a further two tests in 1950 against Great Britain, the last being of major significance. Doug McRitchie will always be remembered as the player who clinched the Ashes for Australia in 1950. He made the initial opening and overlap that gave

Ron Roberts Ronald or Ron Roberts may refer to: * Ron Roberts (American football) (born 1967), American football coach * Ron Roberts (coach) (1931–2012), American football, wrestling, and tennis coach and college athletics administrator * Ron Roberts (footba ...

the try in the Sydney Cricket Ground mud heap on the 22 Jul 1950 Third Test. The Kangaroos won the Test 5–2. McRitchie had hit the English Captain

Ernest Ward Ernest Ward (30 July 1920 – 9 July 1987) was an English rugby league footballer who played in the 1940s and 1950s, and coached in the 1950s. He played at representative level for Great Britain, British Empire, Combined Nationalities and Eng ...

so hard that the visiting star developed an aversion to tackling that resulted in a split-second hesitancy that gave McRitchie the opening that proved so vital.

Later career

He was signed to captain-coach

Queanbeyan, New South Wales Queanbeyan ( ) is a city in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia, located adjacent to the Australian Capital Territory in the Southern Tablelands region. Located on the Queanbeyan River, the city is the council seat of the Queanbeyan-Pale ...

in 1951. 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 ...

McRitchie played for a Monaro side against the Les Chanticleers. Doug's brother Bill McRitchie played for

from 1942 to 1945. Bill was involved in an infamous event in 1945, when he lost a portion of his ear during a match at

Henson Park Henson Park is a multi purpose sports ground in Marrickville, New South Wales, Australia. History Henson Park was established in 1933 on the site of Daley's brick pit, Thomas Daley operated the Standsure Brick Company from 1886 to 1914. The br ...

. Newtown stalwart Frank Farrell was accused of the allegation. McRitchie was awarded Life Membership of

in 1997.

Death

McRitchie died at

Milton, New South Wales Milton is a village in the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, within the City of Shoalhaven. It was founded in 1860, named after the property of post master George Knight and became an important regi ...

on 30 July 1998 on the eve of his 75th birthday.

Accolades

On 20 July 2022, McRitchie was named in the St. George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McRitchie, Doug 1923 births 1998 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian military personnel of World War II Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Marrickville, New South Wales St. George Dragons captains St. George Dragons coaches St. George Dragons players 20th-century Australian sportsmen