Ron Lynch (14 September 1939 – 12 May 2024) was an Australian professional

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 ...

footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. An Australian international and New South Wales interstate representative forward, he played club football in NSW for Young, Forbes,

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 ...

and Penrith.

Playing career

Young

Lynch started his playing career in the town of his birth, Young, where he played

Maher Cup The Maher Cup was an Australian rugby league (originally rugby union) challenge cup contested between towns of the South West Slopes and northern Riverina areas of New South Wales between 1920 and 1971. The main teams involved were Cootamundra, Tu ...

Forbes

Lynch moved to Forbes for work where he gained selection in the Country NSW and

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

sides in 1960.

Parramatta

Lynch then moved to

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

for the

1961 NSWRFL season The 1961 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 54th season of the rugby league competition based in Sydney. Ten teams from across the city competed for the J J Giltinan Shield and WD & HO Wills Cup during the season, which c ...

, playing for the Parramatta club after they paid a £700 transfer fee. During that season he made his

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

debut against the Kiwis in New Zealand. Appointed captain of Parramatta, in 1963 Lynch led his club to victory over the touring South African side. In 1964 he was the top try-scorer in a combined Sydney side's 49–2 rout of

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 ...

. Lynch was selected to go on the

1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France The 1967–68 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain and France was the twelfth Kangaroo Tour, and saw the Australian national rugby league team travel to Europe and play twenty-one matches against British and French club and representative rugby league ...

. He played in the first and second Ashes series Test matches against Great Britain and in the first and second Test matches against France.

Penrith

Moving to Penrith for the

1972 NSWRFL season The 1972 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 65th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, and Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from across ...

, Lynch was appointed captain of the club. He retired at the end of the 1973 season.

Coaching career

In 1970, Lynch was Parramatta's captain-coach. The following season was to be his last for the club.

Later life

Lynch was inducted into the Parramatta Eels hall of fame in 2003. He died following a long illness on 12 May 2024.

References

1939 births 2024 deaths Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players City New South Wales rugby league team players Country New South Wales rugby league team players New South Wales rugby league team players Parramatta Eels captains Parramatta Eels coaches Parramatta Eels players Penrith Panthers captains Penrith Panthers players Rugby league locks Rugby league second-rows Rugby league players from Young, New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1930s-stub