Paul Francis "Pope" Pyers (13 March 1935 – 12 June 2016) 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 in both the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL) competition and in Queensland. A versatile performer, he played in every position from fullback to lock forward. Pyers was born in

South Grafton, New South Wales South Grafton is a suburb of Grafton, New South Wales, taking in most of the area of the city south of the Clarence River. At the time of the 2021 Australian census, South Grafton had a population of 6288 people, about one-third of Grafton's to ...

, and played for the South Grafton rugby league team 1950–53. In 1954, he played with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs side. He is recognized as that club's 421st player. The following year Pyers moved to

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

where he represented the Queensland state team 11 times 1957–59 in matches against

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. In 1959, while playing in

Mackay, Queensland } Mackay () is a city in the Mackay Region on the eastern or Coral Sea coast of Queensland, Australia. It is located about north of Brisbane, on the Pioneer River. Mackay is described as being in either Central Queensland or North Queensland ...

, he represented Queensland in all four of its games against New South Wales; Queensland, winning the series 3–1. He played on the wing in three of that year's interstate games and at centre in the fourth. Pyers top scored for Queensland in the series with 20 points from two tries and seven goals. He also played on the wing for Australia Possibles vs. Australia Probables in 1959. Former Australian rugby league vice captain and long time rugby league writer

Jack Reardon Jack Reardon (25 November 1914 – 22 July 1991) was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1930s and 1940s and who later became a sports journalist. An Australian international and both a New South Wales and Queensland repres ...

rated Pyers a glaring omission from the Australian team that toured Britain and France in 1959–60.http://www.fugs-uni.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/1959-Qld-Team-Flyer.pdf In 1960, Pyers returned to the NSWRL, where he played 2 seasons for the

Parramatta Parramatta (; ) is a suburb (Australia), suburb and major commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney. Parramatta is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district, Sydney CBD, on the banks of the Parramatta River. It is co ...

club.

References

External links

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Paul Pyers' obituaryPaul Pyers on the Nasho Nominal Roll
1935 births 2016 deaths Australian rugby league players Parramatta Eels players Queensland rugby league team players Rugby league players from Grafton, New South Wales Rugby league utility players Sydney Roosters players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1930s-stub