Craig Gower
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Craig Gower | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg) Craig Gower, 2005 |
||||||
| Personal information | ||||||
| Born | 29 April 1978 | |||||
| Penrith, Australia | ||||||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||
| Weight | 90 kg (14 st 2 lb) | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Rugby league | ||||||
| Position | Halfback, Hooker | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1996–2007 | Penrith Panthers | 238 | 55 | 4 | 5 | 233 |
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1997 | New South Wales (SL) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1997 | Australia (SL) | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 12 |
| 1999–2008 | Australia | 18 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 2001–2006 | New South Wales | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2003–2007 | City Origin | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rugby union | ||||||
| Position | Centre | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2008– | Bayonne | |||||
| Representative | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 2009 | Italy | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: Yesterday's Hero | ||||||
Craig Gower (born 29 April 1978) is an Australian rugby football player. He is a dual-code rugby international, having played rugby league for Australia, and rugby union for Italy. He currently plays rugby union for French Top 14 side Bayonne.
He is eligible to play international rugby union for Italy due to an Italian grandfather[1], and made his debut against Australia in Canberra on 13 June 2009 in the first Test of Italy's tour to Australia and New Zealand.
He previously played rugby league for the Penrith Panthers in the National Rugby League, and captained the team to premiership victory in the 2003 NRL season. He represented New South Wales and Australia in rugby league, captaining Australia in 2005.
Contents |
[edit] Rugby league career
[edit] Panthers
Gower was the captain of the Panthers between 2002 and 2005, the highlight of which was the victory over the Sydney Roosters in the 2003 National Rugby League grand final. He endeed 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 22 February 2007, Gower was appointed co-captain for 2007 along with fellow players Tony Puletua and Luke Priddis.
[edit] Representative
Gower made his representative debut in his second season at the top grade when still aged only eighteen. He was selected in the Australian Super League side for the ANZAC Test against New Zealand in 1997. He appeared in both Super League Tests against New Zealand and made the end of year Super League tour to Great Britain, playing in all three Tests there.
Following the re-unification of Australian rugby league, Gower played for Australia in 1999. He was selected for the ANZAC Test that year but was dismissed following a disciplinary incident. However he was back in the side by year's end for his first ARL Test in the Tri-Series in New Zealand.
He was a regular selection for Australia between 1999 and 2008, making eighteen test appearances. His later appearances were at half-back although earlier in his career he played at hooker.
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 in 1995.
He debuted for New South Wales in State of Origin in 2001, and made five appearances until 2006.
[edit] Rugby union career
[edit] French club rugby
On 26 June 2007, Gower was reported to have switched codes and joined French Top 14 rugby union side Bayonne.[2] Gower still had two years to run on his contract at Penrith.[3]
[edit] Representative
Gower expressed his desire to play rugby union for Italy in 2008. He qualifies for the Azzuri due to an Italian grandfather. On 13 June 2009, Gower made his first appearance for Italy at fly half against Australia after being selected for the mid-season tour of Australia and New Zealand. Italy coach Nick Mallett had initial reservations about selecting Gower after reading about his past alcohol-related misdemeanours in Gower's Wikipedia article.[4]
[edit] Controversy
Gower has been involved in a number of alcohol-related 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.[5]
Gower was fired as Panthers captain in December 2005,[6] after incidents at a charity golf event where he argued with several guests, groped the teenage daughter of former league player Wayne Pearce, chased Pearce's son with a bottle before vomiting on him, streaked around the resort, wrecked 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 function by security.[7] 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.[8] Gower was "deeply unhappy" that the Penrith Panthers club did not defend his reputation, and at one stage threatened to "walk" from the club.[9]
Allegedly inebriated with alcohol in a 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.[10][11] The Panthers club controversially reappointed Gower as captain in 2007, claiming the Peppermint Lounge incident was just a media "beat-up".[12]
Australian swimmer Dawn Fraser said Gower was unfit to be captain, due to his alleged lewd behaviour at the charity golf event which she attended,[13] and Sarah Maddison, spokesperson for the Women's Electoral Lobby, said "reappointing Craig Gower would send all the wrong messages."[14]
[edit] References
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/8056181.stm
- ^ "Aussie Gower set to switch codes". BBC. 2007-06-26. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/6240798.stm. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
- ^ "French rugby my biggest challenge: Gower". NRL. 2007-06-26. http://svc002.wic110cx.server-web.com/News/Latest/NewsArticle/tabid/76/NewsId/5849/Default.aspx. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
- ^ Italy eyes Gower, warts'n'all Alex Brown in Grenoble | 29 September 2008
- ^ "Gower incident gives League image another beating" ABC Report, 21 April 1999
- ^ "Gower demoted after drunken binge". BBC News. 2006-01-04. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/rugby_league/international_and_australian/4579992.stm. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ "NRL wants probe into Gower grope claims". The Age. 2005-12-22. http://www.theage.com.au/news/league/nrl-wants-probe-into-gower-grope-claims/2005/12/22/1135032121063.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ "NRL gives Gower his final warning". The New Zealand Herald. 2006-01-23. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/story.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10364852. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Prichard, Greg (2006-02-06). "Gower's ultimatum: defend me or I'll walk". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/gowers-ultimatum-defend-me-or-ill-walk/2006/02/05/1139074110257.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Pandaram, Jamie (2007-03-23). "Police set to charge Gower". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/police-set-to-charge-gower/2007/03/22/1174153255058.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ Masters, Roy (2007-02-13). "Time for Craig to face demons". The Sydney Morning Herald. http://www.smh.com.au/news/league/time-for-craig-to-face-demons/2007/02/12/1171128898565.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ "Enough is enough". The Daily Telegraph. 2007-02-17. http://origin.www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21237481-5001023,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
- ^ "Gower 'shouldn't be captain'" Fox Sport, 3 January 2007
- ^ Phelps, James (2007-01-05). "Leave Craig alone". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21011973-5001023,00.html. Retrieved on 2007-08-10.
[edit] External links
|
|||||
|
|||||
|
|||||||||||
