Rex Mossop
Encyclopedia
Rex Peers Mossop was an Australia
n rugby league
and rugby union
footballer—a dual-code international, and an Australian television personality from 1964 until 1991.
and played eight tests for the Wallabies
from 1948 to 1951. His international rugby union career was played at lock.
. He returned to Australia in 1956, joining the Manly Sea Eagles and becoming the cornerstone of their forward pack in the late 1950s.
Ever an aggressive front-row forward, Mossop played in the Manly sides that lost to the St George Dragons in grand finals in 1957 and 1959. In the lead up to the 1959 Grand Final, rumours were circulating that Mossop was carrying a broken cheekbone. From the kick off, Saints' forwards took turns at testing Mossop's injury with Harry Bath
giving him particular attention. For most of the match the Manly forward copped a hammering until in frustration, Mossop retaliated by standing on Bath's head. A brawl broke out between the two and the referee Darcy Lawler sent both off.
Notwithstanding his uncompromising playing style, Mossop won a newspaper's "best and fairest" award for the 1958 season.
He first represented Australia in rugby league at age 30 in 1958 in the first Test against Great Britain
in Sydney, an appearance im which he became Australia's 25th dual code rugby international, following Ken Kearney
and preceding Arthur Summons
. He then toured with the Kangaroos to Great Britain in 1959-60 as vice-captain. He played a total of nine Tests for Australia.
He played 136 games for Manly, retiring in 1963 at age 35.
for one of Sydney's largest car dealers, Stacks Holden when he heard in 1963 that Channel 7
were advertising for a Sports Director. Despite not having any television or broadcasting experience Mossop beat out sixty applicants for the job, many of whom possessed more television credentials than he did.
Mossop first appeared on air in 1964 and called his first game in 1965, only four years after former player Ray Stehr
had carried out the first ever commercial telecast on Channel 9
in 1961. He spent 20 years as host of a rugby league preview show including the "Controversy Corner" discussion segment. From the early 1970s till 1990 on Sydney channels Seven and then Ten he was the voice of rugby league and the pre-eminent TV match broadcast caller. His criticism of players and referees was blunt and uncompromising and his calling style was seen by opposing fans as parochially favouring Manly. His match commentaries and indeed his other forays into the public domain were often filled with tautological descriptors that in eastern state Australian vernacular became known as "Mossopisms": These mistakes also led to his nickname, "Rox Messup".
He also recorded such classics as:
The perceived parochialism
towards Manly - and a gruff style that bordered on arrogance - often alienated him with league supporters, so much so that he was once famously hit in the side of the head with a piece of fruit thrown at him while giving a live post-match summary. With his long association with Channel 7 many celebrities and media still refer to ATN Channel 7 as Channel REX.
.
(NSWRL) in 1999 in recognition of services to the game.
In 2006, Mossop was named in both the Manly Rugby League and Manly Rugby Union "best ever" sides, highlighting his enormous contribution to both codes.
Rex Mossop was awarded the Australian Sports Medal
on 24 October 2000 for services to Rugby League.
veteran who had been wounded in battle at Passchendale, and Nellie Mossop (née Kirkpatrick). Born in Five Dock, New South Wales
, he had an elder brother, Kirk, who later became a noted artist. The family lived in Five Dock but moved to Balgowlah
by the time he was five. He attended Manly Boys High School
leaving in 1943 to become, initially, an apprentice fitter and turner and later a sales representative for a variety of businesses prior to his career in television.
Mossop married Joan Mildred Bell on 26 October 1951 at St Matthews Church, Manly. The couple had two sons, Kirk (1952) and Gregory (1956).
. He died aged 83 on 17 June 2011 at the Royal North Shore Hospital
in Sydney surrounded by family and friends. His funeral was held on 24 June 2011 at St Matthews Church, Manly.
As a mark of respect for Mossop, the Manly Sea Eagles players wore black armbands for their Round 15 clash with traditional rivals Parramatta
on 20 June 2011 at Manly's home ground, Brookvale Oval
, and a minute's silence was observed before kick off.
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 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...
and 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...
footballer—a dual-code international, and an Australian television personality from 1964 until 1991.
Rugby union career
Mossop played rugby union for the Manly clubManly RUFC
Manly Rugby Union Football Club are a rugby union club based in Manly, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales. The club was formed in 1906 and competes in the New South Wales Rugby Union competitions, the Shute Shield and Tooheys New Cup. Manly, known as the Marlins, play their home games at Manly...
and played eight tests for 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...
from 1948 to 1951. His international rugby union career was played at lock.
Rugby league career
Switching to rugby league in the UK in 1951, he played with Rugby Football League Championship side LeighLeigh Centurions
Leigh Centurions is an English professional rugby league club based in Leigh, Greater Manchester who play in the Co-operative Championship.The club was founded in 1878 as Leigh Rugby Football Club and is one of the original twenty-two clubs that formed the Northern Rugby Football Union in...
. He returned to Australia in 1956, joining the Manly Sea Eagles and becoming the cornerstone of their forward pack in the late 1950s.
Ever an aggressive front-row forward, Mossop played in the Manly sides that lost to the St George Dragons in grand finals in 1957 and 1959. In the lead up to the 1959 Grand Final, rumours were circulating that Mossop was carrying a broken cheekbone. From the kick off, Saints' forwards took turns at testing Mossop's injury with Harry Bath
Harry Bath
Harry Bath , was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach who rose to prominence in the mid-Twentieth Century...
giving him particular attention. For most of the match the Manly forward copped a hammering until in frustration, Mossop retaliated by standing on Bath's head. A brawl broke out between the two and the referee Darcy Lawler sent both off.
Notwithstanding his uncompromising playing style, Mossop won a newspaper's "best and fairest" award for the 1958 season.
He first represented Australia in rugby league at age 30 in 1958 in the first Test against Great Britain
Great Britain national rugby league team
The Great Britain national rugby league team represents the United Kingdom in rugby league football. Administered by the Rugby Football League , the team is nicknamed "The Lions" or "Great Britain Lions"....
in Sydney, an appearance im which he became Australia's 25th dual code rugby international, following Ken Kearney
Ken Kearney
Ken "Killer" Kearney was an Australian rugby footballer – a dual-code international player – and a rugby league coach. He represented the Wallabies in seven Tests and the Kangaroos in thirty-one Test matches and World Cup games. He captained Australia in nine rugby league Test matches in 1956 and...
and preceding Arthur Summons
Arthur Summons
Arthur Summons is a former Australian representative rugby union and rugby league player, a dual-code rugby international fly-half or five-eighth...
. He then toured with the Kangaroos to Great Britain in 1959-60 as vice-captain. He played a total of nine Tests for Australia.
He played 136 games for Manly, retiring in 1963 at age 35.
Commentator
As was normal for professional rugby league players of the time, Mossop had a full time job as a car salesmanAutomobile salesperson
The automobile salesperson is one of many sales professions. The automobile salesman is a retail salesperson, who sells new and/or used cars. Unlike traditional retail sales, car sales are usually negotiable...
for one of Sydney's largest car dealers, Stacks Holden when he heard in 1963 that Channel 7
ATN
-Medicine:*Acute tubular necrosis, a medical condition involving the death of tubular cells that form the tubule that transports urine to the ureters*Asymmetric tonic neck reflex*Atypical trigeminal neuralgia-Television:...
were advertising for a Sports Director. Despite not having any television or broadcasting experience Mossop beat out sixty applicants for the job, many of whom possessed more television credentials than he did.
Mossop first appeared on air in 1964 and called his first game in 1965, only four years after former player Ray Stehr
Ray Stehr
Raymond Ernest Stehr was an Australian rugby league footballer, a state and national representative player whose club career was played at Sydney's Eastern Suburbs club. He has been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.-Early life:Stehr was born in the country New...
had carried out the first ever commercial telecast on Channel 9
TCN
TCN stands for:* Take Care Now, a private company providing out-of-hours medical cover in England* TanenbaumCHAT North Campus, a private Hebrew high school in Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada* TCN-9, a Sydney television station...
in 1961. He spent 20 years as host of a rugby league preview show including the "Controversy Corner" discussion segment. From the early 1970s till 1990 on Sydney channels Seven and then Ten he was the voice of rugby league and the pre-eminent TV match broadcast caller. His criticism of players and referees was blunt and uncompromising and his calling style was seen by opposing fans as parochially favouring Manly. His match commentaries and indeed his other forays into the public domain were often filled with tautological descriptors that in eastern state Australian vernacular became known as "Mossopisms": These mistakes also led to his nickname, "Rox Messup".
- "if I keep getting Boyd and O'Grady mixed up, it's because they look alike, especially around the head"
- "tiny, diminutive, little Mark Shulman"
- "he seems to be favouring a groin injury at the top of his leg"
- "now the referee's giving him a verbal tongue lashing"
- "I don't think the male genitals or the female genitals should be rammed down people's throats … to use a colloquialism."
- "He's made a great yardage of 25 metres."
He also recorded such classics as:
- "Son of a very famous father"
- "A little bit marginal"
- "Very mobile running"
The perceived parochialism
Parochialism
Parochialism means being provincial, being narrow in scope, or considering only small sections of an issue. It may, particularly when used pejoratively, be contrasted to universalism....
towards Manly - and a gruff style that bordered on arrogance - often alienated him with league supporters, so much so that he was once famously hit in the side of the head with a piece of fruit thrown at him while giving a live post-match summary. With his long association with Channel 7 many celebrities and media still refer to ATN Channel 7 as Channel REX.
Other television work
In 1970-71 he was the "Beast" on the television talk show Beauty and the BeastBeauty and the Beast (talk show)
Beauty and the Beast is an Australian panel television show that has appeared in numerous versions since the early days of Australian television. The first version began in 1963 on the Seven Network with host Eric Baume as the "Beast". Baume was later replaced by presenters including John Laws,...
.
Honours
Mossop became a life member of the New South Wales Rugby LeagueNew South Wales Rugby League
The New South Wales Rugby League is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and is a member of the Australian Rugby League. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was known as the New South Wales Rugby Football League until 1984 when forward thinking marketing managers decided...
(NSWRL) in 1999 in recognition of services to the game.
In 2006, Mossop was named in both the Manly Rugby League and Manly Rugby Union "best ever" sides, highlighting his enormous contribution to both codes.
Rex Mossop was awarded the Australian Sports Medal
Australian Sports Medal
The Australian Sports Medal was an award given during 2000 to recognise achievements in Australian sport.Recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, office holders, and people who maintained sporting facilities and services. Over 18,000 Medals were...
on 24 October 2000 for services to Rugby League.
Personal
Mossop was the younger son of Norman, a World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
veteran who had been wounded in battle at Passchendale, and Nellie Mossop (née Kirkpatrick). Born in Five Dock, New South Wales
Five Dock, New South Wales
Five Dock is a suburb in the inner-west of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Five Dock is located 10 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local Government Area of the City of Canada Bay.-Location:...
, he had an elder brother, Kirk, who later became a noted artist. The family lived in Five Dock but moved to Balgowlah
Balgowlah, New South Wales
Balgowlah is a suburb of northern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Balgowlah is located 12 kilometres north-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of Manly Council, in the Northern Beaches region...
by the time he was five. He attended Manly Boys High School
Manly Selective Campus
Manly Selective Campus is a selective government high school for students in years 7 to 12 located in North Curl Curl, New South Wales, Australia. It is a part of the Northern Beaches Secondary College, a 5 campus college across Sydney's Northern Beaches, formed in 2003...
leaving in 1943 to become, initially, an apprentice fitter and turner and later a sales representative for a variety of businesses prior to his career in television.
Mossop married Joan Mildred Bell on 26 October 1951 at St Matthews Church, Manly. The couple had two sons, Kirk (1952) and Gregory (1956).
Death
In his final years, Mossop had suffered from Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
. He died aged 83 on 17 June 2011 at the Royal North Shore Hospital
Royal North Shore Hospital
The Royal North Shore Hospital is a major public teaching hospital in Sydney, Australia, located in St Leonards. It serves as a teaching hospital for Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney and has approximately 740 beds. It is the referral hospital for Northern Sydney and the Central...
in Sydney surrounded by family and friends. His funeral was held on 24 June 2011 at St Matthews Church, Manly.
As a mark of respect for Mossop, the Manly Sea Eagles players wore black armbands for their Round 15 clash with traditional rivals Parramatta
Parramatta Eels
The Parramatta Eels are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Sydney suburb of Parramatta. The Parramatta District Rugby League Football Club was formed in 1947, with their First Grade side playing their first season in the New South Wales Rugby Football League...
on 20 June 2011 at Manly's home ground, Brookvale Oval
Brookvale Oval
Brookvale Oval is a sporting ground located within Brookvale Park at Brookvale, New South Wales, Australia. The ground is owned by Warringah Council and is primarily used by the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles rugby league team...
, and a minute's silence was observed before kick off.
Further Reading
- Rex Mossop & Larry Writer: The Moose That Roared. (Rex Mossop Biography). Published by Ironbark Press, Australia. 1991 (ISBN 1 875471 07 3).