Bill McLean
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n soldier and a state and national representative
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
rugby union
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
player who captained the Wallabies
Australia national rugby union team
The Australian national rugby union team is the representative side of Australia in rugby union. The national team is nicknamed the Wallabies and competes annually with New Zealand and South Africa in the Tri-Nations Series, in which they also contest the Bledisloe Cup with New Zealand and the...
in five Test matches immediately after World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Pre-war rugby
Like their father, Doug McLean, Snr.Doug McLean, Snr.
Douglas James "Doug" McLean was a pioneer Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer, a dual-code international...
, Bill's older brother Doug McLean jnr had represented for Australia in both rugby codes before Bill left school. Bill too was a promising sportsman - goalkeeper in the 1938 Queensland Water Polo Team and rowing in Surf Boat crews winning the Queensland state championship in 1938. Bill also pursued a rugby career and in 1938 played with "Jeeps"
GPS Rugby
GPS Rugby Club is one of the oldest in Australia, tracing its roots to 1887 -even before the Australian Rugby Union was born.Based at Ashgrove in Brisbane, Queensland, Jeeps has produced 29 Wallabies including Ben Tune, Daniel Herbert, Matt Cockbain, and Daniel Heenan, along with a host of other...
in Brisbane and made his representative debut with state selection
Queensland Reds
The Queensland Reds represent Queensland in the sport of rugby union in the Southern Hemisphere Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996 they were a representative team selected on merit from the rugby union club competitions in Queensland...
the following year. From there he was selected for the ill fated 1939 Wallaby tour to England captained by Vay Wilson
Vay Wilson
Vayro Wilson DSC was an Australian World War II naval combatant and a state and national representative rugby union player who captained the Wallabies in three Test matches immediately prior to World War II.-Rugby career:...
. The team docked at Southampton on the day when England declared war and after a couple of weeks spent filling sandbags to start the war effort, the squad set sail for Australia having not played a game. Of the unlucky tourists only McLean, Keith Windon and Len Smith
Len Smith
Len Smith was an Australian representative rugby union and rugby league footballer of the 1930s and 40s. He captained the Kangaroos in two Tests 1948 and was controversially omitted from the 1948-49 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain....
would return to footballing success after the war.
Military service
McLean enlisted in the AIFAustralian Imperial Force
The Australian Imperial Force was the name given to all-volunteer Australian Army forces dispatched to fight overseas during World War I and World War II.* First Australian Imperial Force * Second Australian Imperial Force...
in July 1940. He was a Captain in the 2/3rd Australian Commando Squadron
2/3rd Commando Squadron (Australia)
The 2/3rd Commando Squadron was one of twelve independent or commando companies and squadrons formed by the Australian Army for service during World War II. Raised in October 1941 as the 2/3rd Independent Company, it served in New Caledonia and New Guinea before being amalgamated into the 2/7th...
and saw action against the Japanese in Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
after parachuting in behind enemy lines. He was discharged in February 1946.
Post-war rugby
After the war McLean was selected in and captained an Australia XV versus The Rest trial match. His opposing captain was his tour team mate Keith Windon and when The Rest won the game, McLean was picked as tour captain for the first post-war Wallaby tour of New Zealand. Injured in the trial McLean missed the first six tour matches but played and captained the Wallabies in the two Tests against the All BlacksAll Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
and the Test against the New Zealand Maori. The following year he again met the All Blacks
All Blacks
The New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
when they visited Australia. He captained once against them and played in both Tests, ths second as captain.
He was pitted against the urbane Phil Hardcastle for the national captaincy honours in 1947. Hardcastle was a medical doctor who got on well with all but didn't lead from the front as was the confrontationial style of McLean. McLean again led The Rest in a selection bout against an Australian XV, won the match and was confirmed again as the seventh Queenslander to lead Australia. The nine month tour involved a circumnavigation of the globe and leadership of a mixture of battle hardened war veterans and young rugby stars. It was a singular honour on one of the world's great sporting tours. For McLean a return to the British Isles was in some ways a completion of unfinished business from 1939 and an opportunity to play on Twickenham's
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
hallowed turf as his father and brother had before.
The tour was only six matches old when McLean fulfilled his dream of playing at Twickenham
Twickenham Stadium
Twickenham Stadium is a stadium located in Twickenham, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. It is the largest rugby union stadium in the United Kingdom and has recently been enlarged to seat 82,000...
in a minor clash against Combined Services. The match was near completion when he was hit by three tacklers from different angles. Writers Howell, Tressider and Shehadie (all present on the tour) each described the snap of bone breaking being audible to onlookers. McLean suffered a serius spiral fracture of the tibia and fibula. He played no further games on the tour and had now played his last representative match for Australia. The tour captaincy passed at that moment to the 21 year old vice-captain Trevor Allan
Trevor Allan
Trevor Allan OAM was an Australian dual-code rugby international who captained Australia in rugby union before switching to rugby league with English club Leigh.-Rugby union club career:...
.
McLean played for Queensland again in 1951 and 1952, also coaching both the Queensland and the Australian national side in those years.
Rugby lineage
In addition to his father and brother's status as Dual-code rugby internationals, his brother Jack McLean was a Wallaby of 1946, as were later Bill's son Peter McLeanMcLean Family (rugby footballers)
The McLean family were a remarkable Australian rugby clan who between them played 77 Tests for the Australian national rugby union team and a number of Tests for the Australian national rugby league team.-Doug McLean Snr:...
and Bill's nephews Jeff and Paul McLean
McLean Family (rugby footballers)
The McLean family were a remarkable Australian rugby clan who between them played 77 Tests for the Australian national rugby union team and a number of Tests for the Australian national rugby league team.-Doug McLean Snr:...
. Paul McLean would later be the Chairman of the Australian Rugby Union
Australian Rugby Union
The Australian Rugby Union is the governing body of rugby union in Australia. It was founded in 1949 and is a member of the International Rugby Board the sport's governing body. It consists of eight member unions, representing each state and territory...
for a number of years up till 2008. See McLean Family (rugby footballers)
McLean Family (rugby footballers)
The McLean family were a remarkable Australian rugby clan who between them played 77 Tests for the Australian national rugby union team and a number of Tests for the Australian national rugby league team.-Doug McLean Snr:...
.
Sources
- The Spirit of Rugby (1995) (Collection of Essays) HarperCollins, Australia - (Essay specific to this article Phil Tressider's The Class of '47-48 1st published Sydney's Daily Telegraph 1987)
- Howell, Max (2005) Born to Lead - Wallaby Test Captains, Celebrity Books, Auckland NZ
- Shehadie, Nicholas (2003) A Life Worth Living, Simon & Schuster Australia