Greg Veivers is an Australian former rugby league

Rugby league

Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...

 footballer who captained the Kangaroos in a World Cup match in 1977. He represented Australia in seven World Cup matches from 1975 and 1977. He was a front-rower and a regular Queensland state representative

Queensland rugby league team

The Queensland rugby league team have represented the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1908...

 from 1970 to 1978.

Early life and sporting family

Veivers was born in Beaudesert, Queensland

Beaudesert, Queensland

Beaudesert is a town located on the Mount Lindesay Highway, some 64 km south of Brisbane. It is possibly named after Beau Desert Park, the property of Charles Henry Alexander Paget, 6th Marquess of Anglesey in Staffordshire, England...

. His father Jack Veivers played rugby league for Souths Brisbane and Queensland

Queensland rugby league team

The Queensland rugby league team have represented the Australian state of Queensland in rugby league football since the sport's beginnings there in 1908...

; his cousin Mick Veivers

Mick Veivers

Mick Veivers was the Member for Southport from 1987 to 2001 and was Minister for Emergency Services and Sport in the Borbidge Government. He had previously been a Rugby League international....

 represented the Kangaroos in the 1960s and his cousin Tom Veivers

Tom Veivers

Thomas Robert Veivers is a former Australian cricketer who played in 21 Tests from 1963 to 1967. He was an all-rounder who bowled right arm off-spin bowler and batted left-handed. He later had a brief political career, holding the seat of Ashgrove in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1983...

 played Test cricket for Australia.

Greg's brother Phil

Phil Veivers

Phil Veivers is an Australian former rugby league footballer. He played for the Southern Suburbs, St Helens and Huddersfield as a full-back....

 played 400 first grade rugby league games in England in the 1980s for St Helens RLFC and later coached Huddersfield and Bradford. Their sister Trish married Australian rugby league identity Wayne Bennett, the former national, state and multiple-premiership winning coach.

After playing rugby at school in Toowoomba, Greg Veivers was graded in rugby league by the Souths Brisbane Colts side in 1967 and made his first grade debut in 1968. He played his entire first grade career with the club.

Veivers also had a spell playing in England for Huddersfield

Huddersfield Giants

Huddersfield Giants are a professional rugby league club from Huddersfield, West Yorkshire who play in the European Super League competition. They play their home games at the Galpharm Stadium which is shared with Huddersfield Town F.C....

 alongside fellow Queenslander and future brother-in-law Wayne Bennett.

Rugby league career

Veivers was selected as a reserve for Queensland in the first interstate match against NSW in 1970. In those days before State of Origin

Rugby League State of Origin

State of Origin is an annual best of three series of rugby league football matches contested by the Maroons and the Blues, who represent the Australian states of Queensland and New South Wales respectively...

 the many Queensland stars who headed south to Sydney club football then had to give up representative honours for their home state. Veivers remained true to Queensland and was a mainstay of the side for the next eight years representing on 16 occasions. He became Queensland captain in 1974.

He was selected for Australia for the 1975 World Series competition and he played in sides captained by Graeme Langlands

Graeme Langlands

Graeme 'Changa' Langlands, MBE, is an Australian former rugby league footballer and coach of the 1960s and 70s. He retired as the most-capped player for the Australian national team with 45 from 1963 to 1975, and captained his country in 15 Test matches and World Cup games. Langlands was the...

, John Brass

John Brass

John Brass is an Australian former rugby union and rugby league footballer - a dual-code international. He made twelve international representative rugby union appearances with the Wallabies from 1966–68 and six representative rugby league appearances for the Kangaroos in 1970 and 1975, as...

 and Arthur Beetson

Arthur Beetson

Arthur Henry "Artie" Beetson, OAM , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He represented Australia and Queensland from 1964 to 1981. His position was at prop. Beetson became the first Indigenous Australian to captain his country in any sport. and is frequently cited as the best...

. In 1977 a World Series was hosted by Australia and New Zealand against Great Britain and France. Veivers was honoured with selection as captain for Australia's 27-12 win against New Zealand.

Veivers played for Queensland in 1978 but didn't represent for his country again. A blood clot suffered in a midweek game in 1975 recurred in 1979 and he retired.

Subsequent career

Veivers had an insurance business in Brisbane. He was a member of the Queensland Coaching and Development panel for 10 years and a selector in the mid 90s for the Queensland Super League team.

Matches played

Team	Matches	Years
Souths Brisbane	unknown	1968–1979
Queensland	16	1970–1978
Australia (World Cup)	7	1975–1977

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au