Ernest James Norman (12 October 1912 – 3 August 1993) 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 – a state and national representative or . His club career was with the Eastern Suburbs club in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League 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 ...

competition. Norman played with Easts for nine seasons between 1931 and 1939. He played over 100 matches for that club and was a member of the Easts sides that won consecutive premierships in seasons

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and

1937 Events January * January 1 – Anastasio Somoza García becomes President of Nicaragua. * January 5 – Water levels begin to rise in the Ohio River in the United States, leading to the Ohio River flood of 1937, which continues into Feb ...

Playing career

Norman was born in

Paddington, New South Wales Paddington is a suburb of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Located east of the Sydney central business district, Paddington lies across two Local government in Australia, local government areas. The portion south of Oxford St ...

in 1912 and was an Eastern Suburbs junior. He was graded with Easts at seventeen years of age and made his Australian debut two years later at nineteen. Throughout his career he made fifteen state representative appearances for

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 ...

and played in twelve Tests 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 ...

. He is listed on the ''Australian Players Register'' as Kangaroo No. 169. Norman coached Eastern Suburbs for three seasons from

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

. By this time Easts had fallen into the cellar – they had been bottom for the first time in the 1949 season under

Ray Stehr Raymond Ernest Stehr (24 January 1913 – 2 June 1983) was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative player whose club career was played at Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. He has been named as one of the nation ...

– and although Norman improved the Tricolours to seventh in 1950 with seven wins and fifth with nine victories (including premiers South Sydney's solitary home-and-away defeat) in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

, a lapse to eighth in 1952 prevented him keeping the job. Norman died of a short illness on 3 August 1993, 70 days before his 81st birthday. In February 2008, Norman was named in the list of Australia's ''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the

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 ...

and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.

References

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, Ernie 1912 births 1993 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league centres Rugby league five-eighths Rugby league players from Sydney Sydney Roosters coaches Sydney Roosters players 20th-century Australian sportsmen