Greg Dowling (born 15 January 1959) is an Australian former professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. An Australian international and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco O ...

representative prop forward, he played his club football mostly in Brisbane with a spell playing for English club,

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

Biography

Greg Dowling was born in Cairns,

on 15 January 1959.

Playing career

A from

Ingham, Queensland Ingham is a rural town and locality in the Shire of Hinchinbrook, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Ingham had a population of 4,426 people. It is named after William Bairstow Ingham and is the administrative centre for the Shire o ...

, Dowling started his career with 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, which neighbours the suburb of Wynnum. They competed in the Brisbane Rugby League from 1951 to 1997. Sin ...

. He scored a freakish try during the

1984 State of Origin series The 1984 State of Origin series was the third time the annual three-game series between the representative rugby league football teams of New South Wales and Queensland was played entirely under " state of origin" selection rules. With Queensland ...

. In Game 2, played on a wet and muddy

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and association fo ...

, Maroons captain

Wally Lewis Walter James Lewis Member of the Order of Australia, AM (born 1 December 1959) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, and Coach (sport), coached in the 1980s and 1990s. He became ...

put up a chip-kick only metres out from the try line. The ball hit the crossbar on the full and bounced back down. Somehow Dowling managed to catch the slippery ball on the full only centimetres from the ground to score under the posts, helping the Maroons to a series winning 14-2 win. His club, Wynnum-Manly won the

Brisbane Rugby League The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Quee ...

premiership final that year. He also played for the

Brisbane Rugby League team The Brisbane Rugby League team, also called Brisbane Firsts or Combined Brisbane or Brisbane Capitals, was an Australian representative rugby league football side made up of players from the Brisbane Rugby League's first-grade premiership club ...

that defeated the

Eastern Suburbs Roosters The Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional Rugby league, Rugby League Football Club based in the Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) and parts of inner Sydney. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) competition. The Roosters have won ...

in the 1984 National Panasonic Cup Final. Dowling played at prop forward for Queensland in all three games of the 1985 State of Origin series. Dowling also played in both test matches of the 1985 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand. He is also remembered for his sideline fight with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

prop

Kevin Tamati Kevin Ronald Tamati (born 21 September 1953) is a New Zealand former rugby league representative player and coach. He played at representative level for New Zealand, New Zealand Māori, Auckland, Central Districts and Wellington, and professio ...

during the first test of the Trans-Tasman Test series at

Lang Park Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

after both players had been sent to the sin-bin by French referee Julien Rascagneres. Both players received an 8-day suspension as a result of the fight. Greg Dowling played left-, i.e. number 8, in

's 34-8 victory over

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The populati ...

in the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

County Cup Final during the 1985–86 season at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside, was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For a period, the venue also hosted ...

, St. Helens, on Sunday 13 October 1985. He also played prop forward in

's 18-4 victory over

Hull Kingston Rovers Hull Kingston Rovers are a professional rugby league club based in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, that competes in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby league. The club has won five league championships, and one Challenge ...

in the 1985–86

John Player Special Trophy The Regal Trophy was an annual knock-out competition for British rugby league football clubs. Organised by the Rugby Football League (RFL), the competition was open to all professional clubs in the British rugby league system, but amateur teams ...

Final during the During the 1985–86 season at

Elland Road Elland Road is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Premier League club Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the ...

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on Saturday 11 January 1986. Dowling played for Queensland in Game I of the

1986 State of Origin series 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 ...

, scoring a try. At the end of the 1986 season, he was selected to go on the

1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1986 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the sixteenth Kangaroo tour in which the Australian national rugby league team (known as the Winfield Kangaroos due to sponsorship) plays a number of tour matches against British and French team ...

, and played at prop forward in every single test match of the tour. Dowling was selected to play for Queensland in all three games of the

1987 State of Origin series The 1987 State of Origin series saw the sixth time the annual three-match series between the New South Wales and Queensland representative rugby league football teams was contested entirely under 'State of Origin' selection rules. It saw the eme ...

, scoring tries in the 1st and second games. He also played in the 4th exhibition match in the United States. Dowling was contracted to be a member of the foundation team for the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite com ...

in 1988. He was named the 1989 Brisbane Broncos player of the year. Injury forced him into retirement in 1991.

After retirement

After playing he became a commentator for the ABC and a columnist for the ''

Cairns Post ''The Cairns Post'' is a major News Corporation newspaper in Far North Queensland, Australia, that exclusively serves the Cairns area. It has daily coverage on local, state, national and world news, plus a wide range of sections and liftouts c ...

''. In 2000 Dowling 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, offi ...

for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. Greg Dowling currently resides in

Townsville Townsville is a city on the north-eastern coast of Queensland, Australia. With a population of 180,820 as of June 2018, it is the largest settlement in North Queensland; it is unofficially considered its capital. Estimated resident population, 30 ...

with two children called Lauren and Lachlan and his wife Rhonda. After moving on from his

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold ...

franchise in Atherton in 2008, he began his retirement. Soon realising this was not for him, he started new project which started at the end of 2009, an

Oporto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

franchise in the Willows Shopping Centre in Townsville. In April 2019 Dowling was announced as the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two pri ...

candidate for

Herbert Herbert may refer to: People Individuals * Herbert (musician), a pseudonym of Matthew Herbert Name * Herbert (given name) * Herbert (surname) Places Antarctica * Herbert Mountains, Coats Land * Herbert Sound, Graham Land Australia * Herbert, ...

at the 2019 federal election. In January 2020, Dowling announced he was running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

mayoral candidate for

Townsville City Council The City of Townsville is a local government area (LGA) located in North Queensland, Australia. It encompasses the city of Townsville, together with the surrounding rural areas, to the south are the communities of Alligator Creek, Woodstock a ...

at the 2020 local government elections. Despite contesting the election as an independent, he received an endorsement from

Clive Palmer Clive Frederick Palmer (born 26 March 1954) is an Australian businessman and politician. He has iron ore, nickel, and coal holdings. Palmer owns many businesses such as Mineralogy, Waratah Coal, Queensland Nickel at Townsville, the Palmer ...

. Dowling managed to secure 17% of the vote, and was beaten by incumbent mayor Jenny Hill and opponent Sam Cox. In July 2020, Dowling was announced as a Clive Palmer's United Australia Party candidate for the seat of Townsville at the 2020 Queensland state election, and was also endorsed as the state leader of the party.

References

External links

*
Greg Dowling at Foley Shield fan siteQueensland Representatives at qrl.com.au
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dowling, Greg 1959 births Living people Australian rugby league players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Rugby league players from Cairns Norths Devils players Wynnum Manly Seagulls players Brisbane Broncos players Rugby league props Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Queensland Rugby League State of Origin players Australia national rugby league team players Wigan Warriors players Brisbane rugby league team players