The McLean family were an Australian rugby clan who between them played 77 Tests for the

Australian national rugby union team The Australia men's national rugby union team, nicknamed the Wallabies, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for Australia. The Wallabies first played at Sydney in 1899, winning their first test match against ...

and a number of Tests for the

Australian 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 Comm ...

. The main grandstand at Ballymore, the home of the

Queensland Rugby Union The Queensland Rugby Union, or QRU, is the Sports governing body, governing body for the sport of Rugby union in Queensland in Australia. It is a member and founding union of Rugby Australia. History The QRU was founded in Brisbane in 1883 as t ...

, is named the McLean Stand in honour of the family's contribution to Queensland rugby and Australian rugby.

Doug McLean Sr.

Douglas James McLean (1880–1947) was the patriarch. He was a pioneer Australian representative

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 ...

and

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 dual code international. He represented with the

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 ...

in 3 Tests and as a

Kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

in 2 Tests. Doug had three sons (Doug Jr., Bill, and Jack) who also played for Australia. Three of his grandsons did as well.

Doug McLean Jr.

Alexander Douglas McLean (1912–1961), was educated at St Laurence's College, South Brisbane. He played 10 Tests for the

between 1933 and 1936. He too was a dual code international, playing two

Tests on the wing and making the 1937

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 ...

of Great Britain.

Bill McLean

William Malcolm McLean (1918–1996) played 5 Tests as captain of the Wallabies immediately after

World War II 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 ...

. Born in Ipswich and educated at both

Brisbane State High School Brisbane State High School (BSHS or commonly State High) is a partially selective, co-educational, state secondary school, located in South Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is a member of the Great Public Schools Association of Queensland, ...

and St. Laurence's College, McLean played his club rugby with GPS Old Boys. He was selected to lead the national side to tour

1947–48 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland, France and North America Between July 1947 and March 1948, the Australia national rugby union team – the Wallabies – conducted a world tour encompassing Ceylon, Britain, Ireland, France and the United States on which they played five Tests and 36 minor tour matches. ...

. He badly broke a leg early in the tour and did not play in any further Tests. As a captain in

2/3rd Commando Squadron (Australia) The 2/3rd Commando Squadron was one of twelve independent or commando companies and squadrons formed by the Australian Army for service during World War II. Raised in October 1941 as the 2/3rd Independent Company, it served in New Caledonia and ...

he saw action against the Japanese in

Jack McLean

Jack McLean was a member of the 1946 Wallaby team that toured New Zealand though he didn't make the Test XV.

Bob McLean

A fourth son of Doug McLean Sr was Bob McLean. He had two sons who won Test caps: Jeff and Paul.

Jeff McLean

Jeffrey James McLean (26 January 1948 – 6 August 2010) played 13 times for the Wallabies between 1971 and 1974 on the wing. He debuted in 1971 against the

Springboks The South Africa national rugby union team, commonly known as the Springboks (colloquially the Boks, Bokke or Amabhokobhoko) is the country's national team governed by the South African Rugby Union. The Springboks play in green and gold jersey ...

. His final Wallaby appearance in the 1st Test of 1974 against the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

was also the representative debut of his younger brother Paul. He died in 2010, aged 62, from cancer.

Paul McLean

Paul Edward McLean born 12 Oct 1953 at

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is an urban centre within the City of Ipswich in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River (Queensland), Bremer River, it is approximately 40 km (25 mi) west of the Brisbane central business district. Ipswich is ...

was the most feted and successful footballer of the family. Paul was capped 31 times between 1974 and 1982, scoring 263 points for the Wallabies playing at fly-half, fullback or centre. He made his Wallaby debut in the first Test of 1974 against the

.Meares (2002), pp. 164. Paul McLean was President of the

Australian Rugby Union Rugby Australia Ltd, previously named Australian Rugby Union Limited and Australian Rugby Football Union Limited, is an Australian company operating the premier rugby union competition in Australia and teams. It has its origins in 1949. It is a ...

between 2005 and 2009.

Peter McLean

Bill's son Peter William McLean born 8 February 1954 in

Brisbane, Queensland Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

also represented at lock for the Wallabies. Peter attended

where he started to play rugby in the U13s. He then moved to

Gatton Agricultural College University of Queensland Gatton Campus is a heritage-listed university campus of the University of Queensland at Warrego Highway, Lawes (east of Gatton), Lockyer Valley Region, Queensland, Australia. It was built from 1897 to 1960s. It is als ...

to play in U18s and U19s, and from there was selected for the Brisbane U18 and U19 representative sides. He made 16 Test appearances between 1978 and 1982, playing 11 times alongside his cousin Paul. His Wallaby debut was in the first Test of 1978 against the

Sources

* ''The Spirit of Rugby 1995 (Collection of Essays)'', HarperCollins: Australia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclean Family Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players People educated at Brisbane State High School