Patrick Aloysius McCue (24 June 1883 – 10 September 1962) was an Australian representative

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...

player and pioneer

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. He was a

dual-code rugby international A dual-code rugby international is a rugby footballer who has played at the senior international level in both codes of rugby, 13-a-side rugby league and 15-a-side rugby union. Rugby league started as a breakaway version of rugby in Northern Eng ...

and an Olympic gold medallist.

Rugby union career

A forward with the Newtown Rugby Union club in Sydney, McCue was selected on the first

Wallaby 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 some ...

tour of England in 1908–1909, the squad captained by

Herbert Moran Herbert Michael "Paddy" Moran (29 April 1885 – 20 November 1945) was an Australian rugby union player, a state and national representative flanker who captained the Wallabies on their first overseas tour in 1908–09. __TOC__ Early years ...

. That side competed in the

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

in London and McCue was a member of the

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

captained by

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 ...

which won the gold medal. Paddy McCue also coached the St. George Rugby Union Club in the 1930s.

Rugby league club career

Along with fourteen of his Olympic Wallaby teammates on his return to Australia he negotiated to take part in promotional matches against the Pioneer Kangaroos and was promptly banned from the amateur code by the Metropolitan Rugby Union. McCue and a number of the rebels joined the Newtown club in Sydney in 1910. They included gold medallist Wallabies John "Jumbo" Barnett and Charles "Boxer" Russell. He helped the club win premiership honours that year, playing at second-row forward in the

1910 NSWRFL season The 1910 NSWRFL season was the third season of the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, Sydney’s top-level rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested during the season for the p ...

's final. McCue played seven seasons with Newtown and after retiring as a player was assistant coach of the

University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase ''universitas magistrorum et scholarium'', which ...

club in its inaugural first grade season of

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own m ...

. He later returned to rugby union, coaching the

rugby union team in seasons 1926, 1927, 1932, 1935, 1942, 1943 and 1944. Paddy McCue was the elder brother of Jim McCue, who also played with Newtown between 1911–1919. In 2008, the centenary year of

rugby league in Australia Rugby league in Australia has been one of Australia's most popular sports since it started being played there in 1908. It is the dominant winter football code in the states of New South Wales and Queensland. In 2009, it was the most watched spo ...

, McCue was named in the Newtown Jets 18-man team of the century.

Rugby league representative career

McCue was selected to represent

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in 1911 and later led New South Wales as captain on the 1912-13 tour of

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 ...

. He was selected on the

1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain The 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain was the second ever Kangaroo tour and was actually a tour by an "Australasian" squad that included four New Zealand players in addition to 24 Australian representatives. It took place over the British ...

which was an Australasian squad including four New Zealanders. McCue made his international rugby league debut in the first Test of 1911 at Newcastle upon Tyne and played in all three Tests of the series, as well as in twenty other minor tour matches, scoring seven tries all told on the tour. His final international appearance was in the first test of the 1914 domestic Ashes series.Whittacker/Hudson: The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players. 1995

Footnotes

References

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney * Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

External links