Reg Gasnier RIP

[saint06]

Champion. Legend. Immortal.

Best centre to ever play the game.

RIP Puff.

 

[redVpride]

R.I.P Gaz a true Dragon and gentleman what a sad day

 

[TeamSatan]

RIP Reg Gasnier,

I just missed out seeing him play, but wished I had seen him play.

All the older fellas , no matter who their team always said Gasnier was brilliant.

Those guys were great judges of a footballer.

 

[SIR LANCELOT]

I watched Reg Gasnier play for the Dragons from day one.Truly a brilliant attacking footballer the likes of which I have not seen emualated since.He had all followers of the game in raptures and anticipation every time he touched the ball.
Frank Hyde described Gasnier as the greatest footballer he had seen

RIP Reg Gasnier.

Lancelot

 

[kit66]

My condolences to his family and friends.
RIP Reg "Puff The Magic Dragon" Gasnier.

 

[ragzouken]

sad.

 

[ggould]

Absouletly shattered by the news of Puff passing! Along with Langlands Raper Smith Provan and Poppa Clay and many more you were the best!! If only todays players had even a quarter of the desire and heart that Reg displayed every time he pulled on the Red V this team would be on top!!! RIP Reg your a true Saint!!!!

 

[TruSaint]

Sad day indeed.
RIP legend.

 

[Dragon Blood]

R.I.P. to a legend. Condolences to the Gasnier family.

 

[Jersey No 14]

R. I. P. Sir
You are your actions are among the reasons I became a DRAGON.
You will be forever remembered.

 

[Mickthedragon]

RIP Reg,a true immortal and one of the best ever to grace the game and mighty red v.

 

[Minh]

RIP, even legends have to go some day......

 

[big pat]

one of the best, will be sadly missed, sympathy to his family.

 

[BrissyRedV]

RIP Puff. You are one of the legends that made this club so great.

 

[Willow]

A true legend of St George, a great amongst the greats. Best wishes to family and friends.

Reg Gasnier passes away

• by LeagueUnlimited Media
• May 12 2014 7:47AM

Rugby League Immortal Reg Gasnier has passed away overnight, aged 74. Born on May 12, 1939, the St George legend died in the Miranda Nursing Home just one day short of his 75th birthday. He had been battling illness for a number of years after suffering a stroke.

Regarded by many as the best centre to have ever played the game, Gasnier played in 39 Test matches for Australia, scoring 28 tries and 125 matches for the St George Dragons during their world record 11-straight premierships.

Nicknamed 'Puff the Magic Dragon', 'Gaz' and 'The Prince of Centres', Gasnier possessed an amazing turn of speed that more often than not left all in his wake. He was the competition's leading try scorer in 1960 (25t), 1963 (24t) and 1964 (18t). He scored two tries in the 1960 Grand Final victory and played in six premiership winning sides. Gasnier suffered a knee injury and then a broken leg while captain-coach of Australia in 1967. Another leg injury during a provincial match in Avignon on December 21st, 1967 forced Gasnier into an early retirement, at just 28 years of age.

Following retirement, Gasnier was awarded an AM and went on to ABC commentary work. He later became a successful marketing manager for a Sydney packaging firm.

In 2008, Gasnier was named at centre in the Australian Rugby League’s Team of the Century. He was named a Rugby League Immortal when the concept was inaugurated in 1981.

Reg Gasnier Fact file:

St George junior (Renown United).

FIRST GRADE, ST GEORGE 1959-67:
125 games.
127 tries, 20 goals (421 points).

St George Verses Vs touring sides 1962-63, 2 games, 3 tries.

Total for St George: 127 games, 130 tries.

CITY REP GAMES 1959-67:
City 1959-65, 5 games, 3 tries.
City Vs touring sides 1960-64, 3 games, 4 tries.

NEW SOUTH WALES 1959-67:
NSW Vs Queensland 1959-67, 16 games, 13 tries.
NSW Vs touring sides 1959-67, 5 games, 4 tries.

Total for NSW: 21 games, 17 tries.

AUSTRALIA 1959-67 (Captain on 8 occasions):
Tests and World Cup 1959-67, 39 games, 28 tries
Tour matches 1959-67, 38 games, 37 tries.

Total for Australia: 77 games, 65 tries.

GRAND TOTAL:
First class matches, 233 games, 219 tries.

http://leagueunlimited.com/news/reg-gasnier-passes-away

 

[Willow]

Btw...

Reg Gasnier's badge:

Image link: http://forums.leagueunlimited.com/image.php?u=9445&dateline=1399849481

 

[TruSaint]

Thanks Willow...

 

[Drop Bear]

Condolences to his family and friends, he will always be in our memories, may he rest in peace.

 

[TruSaint]

Reg Gasnier: The best there's ever been


St George were aware of the rugby league prodigy in their midst even before their dream run of premiership success at the top level began in 1956. Young Reg Gasnier had arrived on the scene at junior club Renown United as a 15-year-old in 1955 and his natural ability shone through as the teams he played for captured premierships at D grade and C grade level. By 1957 he was called up to Saints’ President’s Cup team and the following year, before he’d celebrated his 19th birthday, he knocked back an opportunity to play grade, believing he was not yet ready for such a leap. Later the same year he was approached again and this time he agreed, playing a handful of games in third grade before turning out in the reserve grade grand final. From there his progression was little short of meteoric.

The gifted youngster, who could have reached the top of a number of different sports, started the 1959 season in reserve grade but finished the year as a Kangaroo tourist. After only a handful of first grade games he was fast-tracked into the New South Wales team and then into the Australian Test side against the touring New Zealand team. In his second appearance in the green and gold, Gasnier scored a hat-trick of tries, a feat he was to repeat in his first Test against Great Britain a few months later.

His arrival with Keith Barnes’ Kangaroos of 1959-60 was highly anticipated by the English press, who had heard glowing reports of his performances for St George as they waltzed undefeated to their 1959 premiership title and also for Australia against the Kiwis. Gasnier crossed for three tries in his first game on English soil against club side Widnes, his first after a 50-metre dash in which he displayed bewildering acceleration to squeeze through a minute opening before a change of pace and body swerve carried him to the line.

Gasnier dazzled with a hat-trick in his first Ashes Test at Swinton’s Station Road but it was a try he laid on for winger Ian Moir in that same match that was described by former Australian forward Arthur Clues as the best try he had ever seen.

He continued to dazzle for St George as the Dragons’ winning run gathered pace. In his second season in the top grade he scorched his way to 25 tries from 17 appearances and his ability to score tries continued at an astonishing rate. By 1964 he had crossed for his 100th try in the top grade from just 86 appearances – the second fastest century ever recorded.

His statistics were a remarkable testament to his achievements – 127 tries from 125 premiership games for the Dragons and six grand final victories. At representative level he scored 28 tries from 39 Tests and toured three times with the Kangaroos. But the numbers go only part way towards capturing the essence of the player known as ‘Puff the Magic Dragon’.

Frank Facer, former St George secretary said of him: “I don’t think those who have seen him play will watch another genius like him for years to come … if ever.”

Former NSWRL president Bill Buckley said: “On his day he is the greatest rugby league player I have seen. He is more than entitled to be placed on the same pedestal as Dally Messenger, Harold Horder, Frank Burge and Dave Brown.”

Gasnier’s time in rugby league was relatively short. He was only 28 when injury forced him into retirement and his final game, played before a crowd numbering little more than 1,100 at a windswept ground in southern France on the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour, was much lamented.

Gasnier maintained close ties with rugby league after his retirement as a commentator for the ABC (radio and television) and was much honoured. In 1981 he was acclaimed as one of four post-war Immortals by Rugby League Week magazine and in 2008 he was named in the Australian Rugby League Team of the Century. He was also inducted into the Australian Sports Hall of Fame (1985) and the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame (2002).

Gasnier’s health declined after suffering a brain tumour in 1995 and he passed away at a nursing home at Miranda in Sydney’s south on Sunday, one day before his 75th birthday.

http://www.nrl.com/reg-gasnier-the-best-theres-ever-been/tabid/10874/newsid/78350/default.aspx

 

[Drain the Dragon]

This news ended a horrible day for our famous club.
RIP Reg, an absolute champion footballer and a true gentleman. We'll never see his like again.
I always enjoyed his co-commentary role on ABC in the mid-70s, and the articles he wrote for the Big League magazine.