View source for Bob McCarthy

{{short description|Australian RL coach and former Australia international rugby league footballer}}
{{for|the English footballer|Bob McCarthy (footballer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2015}}
{{Use Australian English|date=April 2015}}
{{Infobox rugby league biography
|name           = Bob McCarthy<br>{{nobold|{{post-nominals|country=AUS|MBE|size=80%}}}}
|fullname       = Robert James McCarthy
|image          = Bob McCarthy.jpg 
|imagesize      =
|caption        = 
|birth_date     = {{birth date and age|1946|8|5|df=yes}}
|birth_place    = [[Sydney]], [[New South Wales]], [[Australia]]
|height         = 
|weight         = 
|position       = {{Rlp|SR}}
|club1          = [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]
|year1start     = 1963
|year1end       = 75
|appearances1   = 206
|tries1         = 100 
|goals1         = 0 
|fieldgoals1    = 1 
|points1        = 301
|club2          = {{nowrap|[[Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs|Canterbury-Bankstown]]}}
|year2start     = 1976
|year2end       = 77
|appearances2   = 40
|tries2         = 19 
|goals2         = 0  
|fieldgoals2    = 0 
|points2        = 57
|club3          = [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]
|year3start     = 1978
|year3end       = 
|appearances3   = 5
|tries3         = 0
|goals3         = 0
|fieldgoals3    = 0
|points3        = 0
|retired = yes
|teamA          = [[New South Wales state rugby league team|New South Wales]]
|yearAstart     = 1969
|yearAend       = 74
|appearancesA   = 11
|triesA         = 7 
|goalsA         = 0 
|fieldgoalsA    = 0 
|pointsA        = 21
|teamB          = [[Australian national rugby league team|Australia]]
|yearBstart     = 1969
|yearBend       = 74
|appearancesB   = 15
|triesB         = 7 
|goalsB         = 0 
|fieldgoalsB    = 1 
|pointsB        = 22
|coachteam1          = [[Souths Logan Magpies|Souths]] (Brisbane)
|coachyear1start     = 1980
|coachyear1end       = 83
|coachgames1         = 78
|coachwins1          = 53
|coachdraws1         = 2
|coachlosses1        = 23
|coachteam2          = [[Gold Coast Chargers|Gold Coast Giants]]
|coachyear2start     = 1988
|coachyear2end       = 90
|coachgames2         = 66
|coachwins2          = 15
|coachdraws2         = 3
|coachlosses2        = 48
|coachteam3          = [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]
|coachyear3start     = 1975
|coachyear3end       = 94
|coachgames3         = 9
|coachwins3          = 1
|coachdraws3         = 0
|coachlosses3        = 8
|coachteamA          = [[Brisbane rugby league team|Brisbane]]
|coachyearAstart     = 
|coachyearAend       = 
|coachgamesA         = 
|coachwinsA          = 
|coachdrawsA         = 
|coachlossesA        = 
|updated        = 
|source         = <ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/robert-mccarthy/summary.html Rugby League Project]</ref><ref>[http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/coaches/robert-mccarthy/summary.html Rugby League Project Coaches]</ref>
|new            = yes
| module       = {{infobox person
| embed        = yes
| father       = 
| mother       = 
| spouse       = 
| education    = 
| alma_mater   = 
| relatives    = [[Troy McCarthy]] (son)<br>[[Darren McCarthy (rugby league)|Darren McCarthy]] (son)
}}
}}

'''Robert James McCarthy''' [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]] (born 5 August 1946) is an Australian former professional [[rugby league]] footballer and coach. He played for the [[South Sydney Rabbitohs]], [[Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs]], [[New South Wales Rugby League team|New South Wales]] and for the [[Australian national rugby league team|Australian]] national side. He later coached in Brisbane, taking [[Souths Magpies]] to a premiership in 1981 and coaching the [[Gold Coast-Tweed Giants]] upon their entry to the [[Winfield Cup]]. Since 2001 he has been the chairman of both the Australian<ref>{{cite web
|last=ARL 
|title=Australian Rugby Football League 2008 Annual Report 
|page=1 
|publisher=Australian Rugby Football League Limited 
|year=2008 
|url=http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/files/11726_ARL_Annrep_1.pdf 
|access-date=2009-07-19 
|url-status=dead 
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317182126/http://www.australianrugbyleague.com.au/files/11726_ARL_Annrep_1.pdf 
|archive-date=17 March 2012 
|df=dmy 
}}</ref> and [[New South Wales Rugby League team|NSW state]] selection panels.

==Biography==
===Career highlights===
A fast and strong {{rlp|sr}} McCarthy played 10 tests for Australia and five matches in two World Cups. He made the 1973 [[Kangaroo Tour]] and two tours of New Zealand. He played 211 first grade games for Souths (1963–1975 and 1978), scoring 100 tries. He played in three grand final victories (1967, 1970 and 1971) and in two losing grand finals (1965 and 1969).

===Club career===
Born in inner city [[Surry Hills|Surry Hills, New South Wales]] in Sydney in an [[Irish Australians|Irish-Australian]] [[Irish Catholics|Roman Catholic]] family, McCarthy was a South Sydney junior with the Moore Park Club and made his first grade debut in 1963. In 1965 he was in the team of young Rabbitohs who challenged [[St George Dragons|St George]] in the [[NRL Grand Final|Grand Final]] in front of a record breaking crowd of 78,065 at the [[Sydney Cricket Ground]]. Along with McCarthy the nucleus of this side was [[John O'Neill (rugby league footballer)|John O'Neill]], [[Ron Coote]], [[Eric Simms (rugby league)|Eric Simms]], [[Michael Cleary (rugby)|Mike Cleary]] and [[John Sattler]] who went on to feature in [[Australia national rugby league team|Australian representative teams]] for the next six years and who would help create a golden period for South Sydney at the end of the 1960s, and in the early years of the next decade.

The advent of the four tackle rule in 1967 was tailor-made for the athletic, barrel-chested McCarthy and his coach [[Clive Churchill]] gave him license to stand wide in attack to make best use of his tank-like charges.

One of the most spectacular tries in Grand Final history came from such positional play when just before halftime in the 1967 decider against [[Canterbury Bulldogs|Canterbury]] McCarthy intercepted a pass out wide from Canterbury hooker Col Brown and ran the length of the field to score and to take the Rabbitohs to a two-point lead which they didn't give up by game's end.

He missed Souths 1968 Grand Final victory, played in the 1969 loss to the [[Balmain Tigers]] and was a member of the 1970 and 1971 premiership sides. It was primarily McCarthy's retribution which saw [[Manly Sea Eagles|Manly's]] [[John Bucknall]] leave the field before half-time in the 1970 Grand Final after Bucknall had earlier broken the jaw of Souths captain [[John Sattler]] and the Souths forwards had regrouped to protect and avenge their [[Captain (sports)|captain]]. In the 1971 Grand Final against St George [[Ron Coote]] made a break and passed to McCarthy who raced away to score under the posts to seal Souths 16–10 Grand Final win.

In 1975 McCarthy became only the second forward in the history of the game after [[Frank Burge]] to surpass the 100 career try tally.

McCarthy moved to Canterbury for the 1976 and 1977 seasons where he played at [[Rugby league positions#Prop forward|Prop forward]] and played 37 games for the club helping them to the semi-finals in 1976. He returned to the Rabbitohs in 1978 to finish his career in a brief five-game season ended by injury.

===Representative career===
Bobby McCarthy first tasted representative football in 1964 scoring two tries for a New South Wales Colts side against a touring French team.

He had to wait until the 1969 tour of [[New Zealand national rugby league team|New Zealand]] before he made a national senior squad but thereafter, for the next five years barring injury, he was one of the first players selected for Test and [[Rugby League World Cup|World Cup]] squads.

He played in both Tests of the 1969 New Zealand tour. In the 1970 domestic [[Rugby League Ashes|Ashes]] series against Great Britain he appeared in the third Test and later that year in the World Cup in England where he played in all four of Australia's games including the victorious final.

He played three Tests in 1971–72 against New Zealand and appeared in one match in the 1972 World Cup in which campaign he was competing for the second row spots with his club teammates [[Paul Sait]] and [[Gary Stevens (rugby league)|Gary Stevens]].

McCarthy was named as vice-captain to [[Graeme Langlands]] on the '73 [[Kangaroo Tour]] and his sole honour as Australia's Test captain was in the vital second Test in Leeds which the Kangaroos needed to win to keep the series alive. McCarthy scored a try early in the second half to help win the game but on the frozen ground he dislocated his shoulder in the process and his tour was over. He scored three tries in his two Test and 4 minor tour match appearances but had played a pivotal role in Australia's successful Ashes campaign.

In 1974 Test series at home against Great Britain, McCarthy was selected in the deciding 3rd game in a veteran pack including his old Souths teammates Coote, Stevens, and John O'Neill and captained and coached by Langlands. The old war-horses won the match 22–18 to retain the Ashes and McCarthy was one of the players who chaired Langlands from the field and who along with eight others were unknowingly making their farewell Test appearance.

===Accolades===
He was honoured with his [[Member of the Order of the British Empire|MBE]] in 1977 for services to rugby league, only the second player after Langlands to be so honoured while still playing.

In 2004 he was named by Souths in their ''South Sydney Dream Team'',<ref>[http://www.souths.com.au/history/viewclublegends.asp?ArticleID=842 South Sydney Dream Team] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070614004123/http://www.souths.com.au/history/viewclublegends.asp?ArticleID=842 |date=14 June 2007 }} from the official South Sydney website.</ref> consisting of 17 players and a coach representing the club from [[New South Wales Rugby League season 1908|1908]] through to [[National Rugby League season 2004|2004]].

In February 2008, McCarthy was named in the list of Australia's [[List of Australian rugby league's 100 greatest players|''100 Greatest
Players'']] (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the [[National Rugby League|NRL]] and [[Australian Rugby League|ARL]] to
celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|website=[[National Rugby League|NRL]] & [[Australian Rugby League|ARL]]|title=Centenary of Rugby League – The Players|url=http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true|access-date=2008-02-23|date=2008-02-23|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080226180521/http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true|archive-date=26 February 2008|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===Post-playing===
McCarthy commenced coaching with [[Souths Logan Magpies|Brisbane Souths]] in 1980 taking them to the [[Brisbane Rugby League]] Grand Final that year and to premiership victory in 1981. He coached the [[Brisbane rugby league team]] to victory in the [[1984 Panasonic Cup]].

McCarthy was the inaugural coach of the [[Gold Coast Chargers#Gold Coast Seagulls|Gold Coast Seagulls]] in 1988 and for that club's first three seasons. In 1994, he was briefly the coach of the [[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]] before he stood aside for health reasons.  McCarthy coached Souths to their upset 1994 [[Tooheys Challenge Cup]] final victory over [[Brisbane Broncos|Brisbane]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2018/04/24/the-giant-killers/|title=The Giant Killers|website=www.rabbitohs.com.au}}</ref>

Since 2001, he has been the chairman of both the Australian and [[New South Wales Rugby League team|NSW]] State of Origin selection panels.
[[File:BOB MCCARTHY.jpg|thumb|right|McCarthy in 2012]]

===1st Grade matches played===
{| class="wikitable" 
|- bgcolor=#bdb76b
! Team !! Matches !! Years
|-
| South Sydney|| 211||1963–75 & 1978
|-
| Canterbury|| 40||1976–77
|-
| New South Wales||11|| 1969–1974
|-
| Australia (Test & World Cup)||15|| 1969–74
|-
|}

==Sources==
* [[Alan Whiticker|Whiticker, Alan]] (2004) ''Captaining the Kangaroos'', New Holland, Sydney
* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
*[http://thebulldogs.com.au/sportal.php?page=player&id=412 Canterbury Bulldogs profile]
*[http://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2016/07/09/legend_of_league_bob.html Legend of League - Bob McCarthy]

{{S-start}}
{{S-sport}}
{{Succession box
| before = [[Frank Curry]]<br>1991−1993
| after  = [[Ken Shine]]<br>1994−1997
| title  = [[List of South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches|Coach]]<br>{{leagueicon|south sydney rabbitohs|size=18}}<br>[[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]
| years  = 1994
}}
{{Succession box
| before = Club founded
| after  = [[Malcolm Clift]]<br>1991
| title  = Coach<br>{{leagueicon|gold coast chargers|size=18}}<br>[[Gold Coast Chargers|Gold Coast Giants]]
| years  = 1988-1990
}}
{{Succession box
| before = [[Bernie Purcell]]<br>1964−1966
| after  = [[Johnny King]]<br>1976
| title  = [[List of South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches|Coach]]<br>{{leagueicon|south sydney rabbitohs|size=18}}<br>{{nowrap|[[South Sydney Rabbitohs|South Sydney]]}}
| years  = 1975
}}
{{succession box
| before = [[Billy Smith (rugby league, born 1942)|Billy Smith]]
| after  = [[Tom Raudonikis]]
| title  = [[Australian national rugby league team#Captains|Captain]]<br>{{flagicon|Australia}}<br>[[Australia national rugby league team|Australia]]
| years  = 1973
}}
{{S-end}}

{{South Sydney Rabbitohs squad 1967 NSWRFL premiership}}
{{South Sydney Rabbitohs squad 1970 NSWRFL premiership}}
{{South Sydney Rabbitohs squad 1971 NSWRFL premiership}}
{{Souths Magpies squad - 1981 BRL premiers}}
{{Combined Brisbane - 1984 Panasonic Cup winners}}
{{Australia squad - 1970 World Cup champions}}
{{Australia 1972 Rugby League World Cup squad}}
{{1973 Kangaroo Tour squad}}
{{Gold Coast-Tweed Giants}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, Bob}}
[[Category:1946 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Australia national rugby league team captains]]
[[Category:Australia national rugby league team players]]
[[Category:Australian rugby league coaches]]
[[Category:Australian people of Irish descent]]
[[Category:Brisbane rugby league team coaches]]
[[Category:Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players]]
[[Category:Gold Coast Chargers coaches]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:New South Wales rugby league team players]]
[[Category:Rugby league players from Sydney]]
[[Category:Rugby league second-rows]]
[[Category:South Sydney Rabbitohs captains]]
[[Category:South Sydney Rabbitohs coaches]]
[[Category:South Sydney Rabbitohs players]]