Malcolm Julian "Mannie" McArthur (30 July 1882 – 6 July 1961) was an Australian

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

national representative

player. He won a gold medal in rugby at the

1908 Summer Olympics The 1908 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the IV Olympiad and also known as London 1908) were an international multi-sport event held in London, England, from 27 April to 31 October 1908. The 1908 Games were originally schedu ...

Rugby career

McArthur's rugby career was played with the

Eastern Suburbs RUFC Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Football Club may refer to: * Eastern Suburbs District RUFC (NSW), est. 1900, based in Sydney, Australia * Eastern Suburbs RUFC (Canberra), est. 1938, based in Canberra, Australia * Easts Tigers Rugby Union, est. 1947, b ...

in Sydney, Australia. He was selected in Australia's inaugural national rugby team to tour the northern hemisphere - Dr Paddy Moran's First

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

for the

1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of Britain The 1908–09 Australia rugby union tour of the British Isles was a collection of friendly rugby union games undertaken by the Australia national rugby union team against invitational and national teams from England and Wales, as well as several ...

At the time, the rugby tournament for the

London Olympics London Olympics or London Games may refer to: * 1908 Summer Olympics, Games of the IV Olympiad * 1944 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1948 Summer Olympics, Games of the XIV Olympiad * 2012 Summer Olympi ...

game may not have appeared to be of great significance. Australia had already beaten Cornwall, the British county champions, early in the tour, and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

had all turned down the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

's invitation to participate in the Olympic bouts. Neither the tour captain, Moran, nor the vice-captain Fred Wood played, so

Chris McKivat Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt, pronounced ; 27 November 1880 − 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests ...

led the Wallabies to an easy 32–3 victory and to Olympic glory, with each Wallaby in that match thereafter an Olympic gold medallist. McArthur made his Test debut on that tour at Rectory Field, Blackheath, in the Test against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

in January 1909 - a match won by Australia 9–3.

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External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McArthur, Malcolm 1882 births 1961 deaths Australian rugby union players Australia international rugby union players Rugby union players at the 1908 Summer Olympics Olympic rugby union players for Australasia Olympic gold medalists for Australasia Medalists at the 1908 Summer Olympics Rugby union players from Sydney Rugby union flankers Eastern Suburbs RUFC players New South Wales rugby union team players 20th-century Australian sportsmen

Rugby career

See also

Footnotes

External links