Richard Ian Charlesworth AO (born 6 February 1952) is an Australian sports coach and former politician. He played

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

for

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

and international

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

for the Kookaburras (the Australian national team), winning a silver medal at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

and winning the World Cup in 1986. Charlesworth served as a federal member of parliament from 1983 to 1993, representing the Labor Party. After leaving politics, he was appointed coach of the Hockeyroos (the national women's field hockey team), leading them to Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2000. Charlesworth later coached the Kookaburras from 2009 to 2014, and has also worked in consulting roles with the

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test cricket, Test in 1930 against England cricket team, England in Christchurch, becoming the f ...

, the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

, and the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

(an

Australian football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

team).

Biography

Born in Subiaco, Western Australia, Charlesworth attended

Christ Church Grammar School Christ Church Grammar School is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican Single-sex school, single-sex Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primary and Secondary school#Australia, se ...

until he graduated in 1969. In 1976, he completed a medical degree (MB, BS) from the University of Western Australia School of Medicine. In 2002, he received an honorary Doctorate of Science at the University of Western Australia and completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in philosophy and history also at the University of Western Australia. His father Lester Charlesworth, a dentist, represented Western Australia in cricket between 1949 and 1951.

Cricket

In 1969 Charlesworth captained the Western Australian State under 19 cricket team before going on to play A grade Club cricket for West Perth (1969–1970, 1976–82) and University Cricket Club (1970–76). He played in 47 first-class matches for

from 1972 until 1979, making 2,327 runs at an average of 30.22. He was a member of

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

winning teams in 1972–73, 1976–77, 1977–78, and was a squad member in the winning season of 1974–75.

Hockey

Player

Charlesworth was coached by Ray House at

, where he was promoted to the school's first XI at an early age. He was a member of the PSA Hockey Cup (now known as the Ray House Hockey Cup) winning teams of 1966–67. He played in and captained the Western Australia hockey team and the Australia men's

team the '' Kookaburras''. He was selected to represent Australia in five Olympic hockey teams, 1972, 1976, 1980 (captain) (

Moscow Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

were boycotted), 1984 (captain), and 1988, winning Silver at the 1976, Montreal Olympic Games. He was a member of the national team which competed in various other international tournaments including winning the World Hockey Cup in London in 1986 where he was named player of the Tournament. He retired from playing after representing Australia at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. He played 227 games for his country and scored 85 goals. Charlesworth was inducted into the Australian Hockey Hall of Fame in 2008, the second person to achieve this award. In 1980, while playing for The

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

Mens Hockey Club, Charlesworth also won the Olympian's Medal, an annual award presented to the player judged by umpires to be the fairest and best in men's first division competition in Western Australia. In addition, the female equivalent of this award, the Charlesworth Medal, is named in his honour.

Coach

From 1993 to 2000 Charlesworth was head coach of the Australian Women's hockey team, the '' Hockeyroos''. During this time they won the Champion's Trophy in 1993 (Amsterdam), 1995 (Mar del Plata), 1997 (Berlin) and 1999 (Brisbane), the World Hockey Cup in 1994 (Dublin) and 1998 (Netherlands) and were gold medallists in the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and Sydney Olympics in 2000 and

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

. Prior to his appointment as technical adviser to the men's and women's Indian hockey teams, he was the high-performance manager for the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Nicknamed the Black Caps (), they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. ...

. He was selected to act as an advisor to the newly formed hockey selection committee formed by the Indian Olympic Association. Charlesworth has been a mentor coach to several national team coaches with the

and a performance consultant with the

. In 2009, Charlesworth was appointed coach of the Australian men's national hockey team, the ''Kookaburras''. The team went on to win the 2009 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia; the 2010 Hockey World Cup in

New Delhi New Delhi (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

, India; the 2010 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

, Germany; the 2010 Commonwealth Games Men's Hockey Gold Medal in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, India and the 2011 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy in Auckland. After coaching the Kookaburras to success at the 2014 Hockey World Cup in Netherlands, he resigned.

Politics

Charlesworth was elected as the Federal Member for Perth in 1983, representing the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, and was a member of parliament for 10 years until retiring in 1993. Charlesworth said one reason for retiring from Parliament was that he never became a minister.

Administration

Charlesworth was a member of the Australian Sports Commission Board 1994–97 and Western Australian Institute of Sport Board 1984–1992, 2001–2005.

Books

He has written three books: ''The Coach – Managing for Success'', ''Staying at the Top'' and ''Shakespeare the Coach''.

Awards

*Western Australian Sportsman of the Year in 1976, 1979 and 1987 *Advance Australia Award in 1984 *Member of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours *

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) in the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours *Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1987 *

Hockey Australia Hockey Australia is an organisation that formed from the merger of the Australian Hockey Association and Women's Hockey Australia in 2000. It is the national body responsible for the promotion, development and administration of field hockey in ...

Hall of Fame 2008 *Hall of Champions, WA 1995 *West Australian Sports Champions of the Year Award – Coach of the Year 1994–2000 *Australian Coaching Council Team Coach of the Year 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 *Confederation of Australian Sport Coach of the Year 1996, 1997 and 2000 * Australian Sports Medal 2000It's an Honour: Australian Sports Medal
. Itsanhonour.gov.au. Retrieved on 2012-05-02. *Western Australia Citizen of the Year Award 2001 *Western Australian Finalist Australian of the Year 2011 *

Coach of the Year 2010 *Inaugural

World's Best Award 2014

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Charlesworth, Ric 1952 births Australian male field hockey players Australian cricket coaches Australian field hockey coaches Living people Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Perth Members of the Order of Australia Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Olympic field hockey players for Australia Olympic silver medalists for Australia University of Western Australia alumni Western Australia cricketers Women's field hockey in Australia People educated at Christ Church Grammar School Australian sportsperson-politicians Olympic medalists in field hockey Field hockey players from Perth, Western Australia Australian cricketers Olympic coaches for Australia Field hockey players at the 1972 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1976 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Field hockey players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Cricketers from Perth, Western Australia Australian Institute of Sport coaches Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Australian medical doctors Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Sportsmen from Western Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993