Craig Gower

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Craig Gower
Personal information
Full name Craig Gower
Date of birth 29 April 1978 (1978-04-29) (age 30)[1]
Place of birth Penrith, New South Wales, Australia[1]
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in) [1]
Weight 90 kg (14 st 2 lb) [1]
Nickname Gowie
School Colyton High School
Rugby league career
Position Halfback
Amateur clubs
    Colyton Colts
Professional clubs Caps (points)
1996 – 2007    Penrith 238[2] (233)[3]
City vs Country Origin
2003, 2006    City Origin 2[1] (?)
State of Origin
1999 – 2006    New South Wales 7[4] (0)[4]
National teams
1999 – 2005    Australia 14 (?)
Rugby union career
Playing career
Position -
Clubs Caps (points)
2008 Bayonne 0 (0)

Craig Gower (born 29 April 1978) is an Australian rugby league and rugby union player who was the former halfback for the Penrith Panthers. He currently plays for French Top 14 rugby union side Bayonne.

Contents

[edit] Panthers

Gower was the captain of the Panthers between 2002 and 2005, the highlight of which was the victory of Penrith over the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 National Rugby League grand final. He concluded the 2007 regular season with 238 career matches for the Penrith Panthers, four games short of the club record of 242 held by Steve Carter. On February 22, 2007, Craig Gower was announced on the official Penrith Panthers website as co-captain in 2007 along with fellow players Tony Puletua and Luke Priddis.

[edit] Representative

He has many representative appearances, including New South Wales and Australian teams. He made his Test debut in 1996 as hooker but has since moved to halfback. He received the last remaining spot on the interchange bench in State of Origin III 2005 after Craig Wing was unable to play due to injury.[citation needed]

Gower was named Australia's captain for the Test match against France on the 2005 Tri-Nations tour. Gower is the second Penrith Panthers player to captain his country after Brad Fittler achieved the honour in 1995 before leaving the Panthers.

[edit] Rugby Union

On June 26, 2007, Craig Gower was reported to have switched codes and joined French Top 14 rugby union side Bayonne [5] Gower still has 2 years to run with his current contract at Penrith and has a release from his club to play for the Basque club in the 2008 Season. [6]

[edit] Controversy

Gower has been involved in a string of alcohol-fuelled off-field incidents.

In 1999, Gower exposed himself to a female Irish tourist in a Coogee bar, blaming his behaviour on alcohol intoxication. He was dumped from the Kangaroos Squad and fined $2,500 by the NRL and a further $500 in court after pleading guilty to indecent exposure. [7]

Gower was fired as Panthers captain in December 2005[8] after a string of alcohol-fuelled incidents at a charity golf event where he argued with several guests, groped the teenage daughter of league legend Wayne Pearce, chased Pearce's son with a bottle before vomiting on him, streaked around the resort, totalled a golf cart, held a butter knife to the throat of a Sydney radio personality and threw the knife at resort guests before being kicked out of the official function by security. [9] Gower was handed a "final warning" by the National Rugby League and fined $100,000, with $90,000 to be paid to an NRL programme encouraging the responsible use of alcohol by league players and $10,000 to replace the destroyed golf cart.[10]

Gower was "deeply unhappy" that the Penrith Panthers club did not defend his reputation, and at one stage threatened to "walk" from the club.[11]

Allegedly inebriated with alcohol in the Peppermint Lounge cocktail bar at Kings Cross on 11 February 2007, Gower allegedly tried to kiss one man before biting him on the neck and sparking a brawl, and is accused of assaulting another man[12][13]

The police investigation is continuing. The Panthers club controversially reappointed Gower as captain in 2007, claiming the Peppermint Lounge incident was just a media "beat-up".[14]

Swimming legend Dawn Fraser said Gower was unfit to be captain, due to his alleged lewd behaviour at the charity golf event at which she attended.[15]

Sarah Maddison, spokesperson for the Women's Electoral Lobby, said "reappointing Craig Gower would send all the wrong messages."[16]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d e Player profile of Craig Gower. Penrith Panthers. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  2. ^ Player profile of Craig Gower. National Rugby League. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  3. ^ Paul Jeffs. Craig Gower' NSWRL/ARL/SL/NRL First Grade Points Listing. stats.rleague.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  4. ^ a b Jeffs, Paul. Craig Gower's State of Origin Points Listing. stats.rleague.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
  5. ^ Aussie Gower set to switch codes. BBC (2007-06-26). Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
  6. ^ French rugby my biggest challenge: Gower. NRL (2007-06-26). Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
  7. ^ "Gower incident gives League image another beating" ABC Report, 21 April 1999
  8. ^ "Gower demoted after drunken binge", BBC News, 2006-01-04. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  9. ^ "NRL wants probe into Gower grope claims", The Age, 2005-12-22. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  10. ^ "NRL gives Gower his final warning", The New Zealand Herald, 2006-01-23. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  11. ^ Prichard, Greg. "Gower's ultimatum: defend me or I'll walk", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2006-02-06. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  12. ^ Pandaram, Jamie. "Police set to charge Gower", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-03-23. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  13. ^ Masters, Roy. "Time for Craig to face demons", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2007-02-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  14. ^ "Enough is enough", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-02-17. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 
  15. ^ "Gower 'shouldn't be captain'" Fox Sport, 3 January 2007
  16. ^ Phelps, James. "Leave Craig alone", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-01-05. Retrieved on 2007-08-10. 


Persondata
NAME Gower, Craig
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Australian rugby league player
DATE OF BIRTH 29 April 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
Languages