Wally Lewis

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Wally Lewis
Wally_Lewis
Personal information
Full name Walter James Lewis
Date of birth 1 December 1959 (1959-12-01) (age 48)
Place of birth Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Nickname(s) The King, The Emperor of Lang Park
Youth representative teams
Australian Schoolboys
Senior clubs*
Years Club Apps (points)
1978–1983
1983–84
1984–1987
1988–1990
1991–1992		 Brisbane Valleys
Wakefield Trinity
Wynnum-Manly
Brisbane Broncos
Gold Coast Seagulls		 135(?)
10[1] 76(?)
 ? (?)
46 (102)[2]
34 (30)[2]
Representative teams
1980–1991
1981–1991		 Queensland Maroons
Australian Kangaroos		 31 (30)
33 (45)
Professional clubs coached
1992–1993 Gold Coast Seagulls
Representative teams coached
1993–1994 Queensland Maroons

* Professional club appearances and points
counted for domestic first grade only.

Walter James "Wally" Lewis AM (born 1 December 1959 in Brisbane, Queensland) is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach. He is widely acknowledged as one of the nation's greatest players of the 20th century. His time as a player and coach was followed by a career as a newsreader for the Nine network.

Nicknamed The King and also The Emperor of Lang Park,[3] Lewis represented Queensland in thirty-one State of Origin games from 1980 to 1991, and was captain for thirty of them. He also represented Australia in thirty-three international matches from 1981 to 1991 and was national team captain from 1984 to 1989. Lewis is perhaps best known for his State of Origin performances, spearheading Queensland's dominance in that competition throughout the 1980s. He has a record eight man of the match awards in Origin football and captained the side a record thirty times.

Lewis has since been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame and in 1999 he became the sixth member of 'The Immortals'. In 2000, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in the sport of rugby league.[4]

In February 2008, Lewis was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.[5][6] Lewis went on to be named as five-eighth in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century. Announced on 17 April 2008, the team is the panel's majority choice for each of the thirteen starting positions and four interchange players.[7][8]

Contents

[edit] Football career

[edit] BRL and England

Lewis' father was the coach of the Wynnum-Manly rugby league club and Wally was playing rugby league since he was six years old, usually at Lock forward. In his school days, Lewis also played representative rugby union, touring Europe and Japan with the Australian schoolboys alongside the likes of the Ella brothers and Michael O'Connor. After facing discrimination in the rugby union fraternity due to his family's rugby league background, Lewis switched to league, playing in the Brisbane Rugby League premiership with Brisbane Valleys from 1978. Lewis turned down an offer to play in New South Wales with the North Sydney club, remaining in Brisbane. In 1979 he made his debut for Queensland from the bench and also led Valley's to premiership victory over the Wayne Bennett-coached Souths side in the BRL Grand Final. Lewis made the run-on side for Queensland in the inaugural state of Origin match in 1980 at lock alongside his hero Arthur Beetson, and had a hand in Queensland's first ever State of Origin try. The following year he made his debut for the Australian national side. In the 1982 State of Origin series Lewis got his first try and his first man-of-the-match award in Origin and later that year toured Great Britain with the undefeated "Invincibles" as vice-captain. In the first and third games of the 1983 State of Origin series he was named man-of-the-match.

Lewis played for English First Division side Wakefield Trinity for a short spell in 1983/84 and he remains a favourite of Trinity fans, who named their fanzine Wally Lewis is Coming. Trinity won 5 of 10 games during Lewis's stay, including a win over St. Helens in which Lewis scored a hat-trick. After his final match on 12 February, Trinity did not win another game and were relegated to the second division.

Back in Australia, Lewis moved to Wynnum-Manly where he played from 1984 to 1987. He was named player of the series for the 1984 National Panasonic Cup in which he helped Combined Brisbane to victory. He was named man-of-the match in the first two games of the 1984 State of Origin series, making it three consecutive Origin man-of-the-match awards. The following year, he was man-of-the-match for game two only, but went on to win the inaugural Golden Boot Award for best international player in the world. In 1987 he was honoured as a Member of the Order of Australia "for service to rugby league football".

[edit] Brisbane Broncos

Several New South Wales Rugby League premiership clubs had attempted to lure Wally Lewis south during the 1980s, including Manly-Warringah which came closest to contracting him in 1986, but he signed with the Brisbane Broncos as inaugural captain of the side on their inception in 1988. Lewis was the Broncos' top try-scorer in their first season and also later had the honour of scoring the club's first hat-trick. At the end of the season he captained Australia to victory in the 1988 World Cup final. Lewis won another man-of-the-match award in the second game of the 1989 State of Origin series.

After two seasons with the Broncos, in order to increase the Brisbane club's success in the Winfield Cup, coach Wayne Bennett controversially sacked Lewis as club captain and gave the role to centre, Gene Miles. Miles had retired from representative football, and Bennett hoped he could remove the team's reliance on Lewis. In another blow for the King, Lewis was moved from his favoured five-eighth position to lock to make way for new Canberra signing and Ipswich product Kevin Walters. Controversy reared in the 1990 semi-final victory over Manly-Warringah when Bennett left Lewis on the bench, even though Lewis was desperate to prove his fitness before the upcoming Kangaroo Tour, which he was eventually ruled out of.[citation needed] Wally Lewis is the known as the King but we must remember the greats in the pre Origin days, with the likes of Steven Farquhar possibly the best five-eighth before Wally played for Easts.

[edit] Gold Coast Seagulls and Coaching

In 1991, Lewis joined the Gold Coast Seagulls. He won his eighth and last man-of-the-match award in the first game of the State of Origin series that year before playing both his last match for Queensland and Australia by the end of the season. He captained and coached Gold Coast for two seasons in 1991 and 1992 but finished both seasons in last place. In the final match under Lewis as captain-coach, the Gold Coast defeated Penrith, thus denying that team a place in the finals play-offs. The following year he stopped playing but continued coaching the Seagulls, but departed after a third consecutive wooden spoon.

Lewis also coached the Queensland State of Origin side in 1993 and 1994 but never won a series.

[edit] Legacy

Lewis is remembered for his creative, playmaking football and great on-field confrontations, most notably one in the 1991 State of Origin series with Mark Geyer. The Wally Lewis Medal has been awarded to the Queensland player of the series in State of Origin from 1992 to 2003. Since 2004, it has been awarded to the player of the series from either side.

A bronze statue of Wally was raised at the entrance to Lang Park. The statue text reads:

WALLY LEWIS
The Emperor of Lang Park

This honour was bestowed upon Wally Lewis by the former Chairman of the Queensland Rugby League, Senator and acclaimed father of state of Origin, the late Ron McAullife, in recognition of the impact Wally had on matches played at this ground across three decades.
 Lewis is arguably the greatest rugby league player of all time. He is one of only a handful of players to be named a Rugby League Immortal and was one of the six inaugural members of the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
 He achieved the greatest honour in Rugby League: the captaincy of his country, but it was his feats as Queensland skipper and playmaker in State of Origin that he achieved legendary status. He played 31 Origin games (30 as captain) and a record 8 Man of the Match awards over a 12-year period.
 The name Wally Lewis is synonymous with State of Origin and Queensland Rugby League and continues to be an inspiration to future generations of footballers.

Wally Lewis has also appeared in numerous advertisements during and after his football playing career. Examples include promotions for XXXX beer and Burger King.

[edit] Quotes

  • "...he’s the only bloke who dominated the game at the highest level, in State of Origin, over a long period." Ray Warren[3]

[edit] Post-football career

Following his retirement from the sport, Lewis became a sports presenter for Channel Nine's National Nine News in his home town of Brisbane.

During the nightly news broadcast of 16 November 2006, Lewis previewed the sports segment but was not onscreen when the program returned from the commercial break, with newsreader Bruce Paige instead presenting the sports segment. A similar event occurred two weeks later, on 30 November, when Lewis appeared onscreen and began to read the autocue, saying "Good evening" before seeming distressed. A scheduled report was then played, with Paige delivering the rest of the bulletin. Following these events, Lewis was given medical leave for the rest of the year.[9] The following night, Lewis revealed that he suffered from epilepsy. It is as yet unknown whether his on-air disorientation was caused by the condition.[10]

However, it is still not known when Lewis will return as sports presenter, as he is due to have tests and treatment for epilepsy after years of hiding his condition from his family.[11]

Lewis was not expected to make a return as a TV reporter until January 29 but delivered a flawless report alongside new sports presenter Steve Haddan.[citation needed]

Lewis is quoted as saying that "People come and ask me now about things (from his rugby league career) and I just don't remember them at all – that's absolutely frightening."[3]

Lewis said he wanted to work with epilepsy organisations and raise awareness about the condition.[3] He is also the vice patron of the Hear and Say Centre,[12] becoming involved with the charity organisation after his daughter, Jamie-Lee, was born profoundly deaf.[citation needed]

On 21 February 2007, Lewis underwent brain surgery to help his epilepsy at Austin Hospital in Melbourne. The surgery was reported as a success by Gavin Fabinyi, Director of Neurosurgery.[13] He has since made a full recovery.

Wally's son, Lincoln Lewis, recently started as a full time actor on the Channel Seven drama, Home and Away winning a TV Week Logie Award for best male new talent.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

  1. ^ Walter, Brad. "Let Joey go for the good of the game", The Sydney Morning Herald, 2005-08-03. Retrieved on 2007-04-30. 
  2. ^ a b Jeffs, Paul. Wally Lewis' NSWRL First Grade Points Listing. stats.rleague.com. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  3. ^ a b c d Strutt, Sam. "Can surgery save Wally Lewis?", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-01-11. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  4. ^ Wally Lewis. Australian Honours Database. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  5. ^ Centenary of Rugby League - The Players. NRL & ARL (2008-02-23). Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  6. ^ Peter Cassidy. "Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players", Macquarie National News, 2008-02-23. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. 
  7. ^ Todd Balym. "Johns, Meninga among Immortals", Fox Sports Australia, 2008-04-17. Retrieved on 2008-04-17. 
  8. ^ Team of the Century Announced. NRL & ARL (2008-04-17). Retrieved on 2008-04-17.
  9. ^ "Wally Lewis on leave after on-air mishap", ABC News, 2006-12-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  10. ^ "Wally Lewis reveals he has epilepsy", AAP, The Age, 2006-12-01. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  11. ^ "Lewis making good progress, says wife", AAP, ninemsn, 2007-02-22. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 
  12. ^ Hear and Say Centre Board Members. Hear and Say Centre. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
  13. ^ "King Wally's brain surgery a success", ABC News, 2007-02-21. Retrieved on 2007-04-29. 


Sporting positions
Preceded by
team created		 Captain
Brisbane Broncos
1988–1989		 Succeeded by
Gene Miles
1990–1991
Preceded by
Mal Clift		 Coach
Gold Coast Seagulls
1992-1993		 Succeeded by
John Harvey
1994-1995
Preceded by
Graham Lowe
1991-1992		 Coach
Queensland
State of Origin
1993-1994		 Succeeded by
Paul Vautin
1995-1997
Persondata
NAME Lewis, Wally
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lewis, Walter James (birth name), The King (nickname)
SHORT DESCRIPTION Australia rugby league player
DATE OF BIRTH 1 December 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH