Ken Irvine

Ken Irvine
Personal information
Full nameKenneth John Irvine
Born(1940-03-05)5 March 1940
Cremorne, New South Wales, Australia
Died22 December 1990(1990-12-22) (aged 50)
Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Playing information
Height5 ft 8 in (173 cm)[1]
Weight12 st 4 lb (78 kg)[1]
PositionWing
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1958–70 North Sydney 176 171 59 1 633
1971–73 Manly-Warringah 60 41 11 0 145
Total 236 212 70 1 778
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1959–67 New South Wales 24 30 4 0 98
1959–68 Australia 31 33 11 0 121
1960–67 City Firsts 8 7 0 0 21
Source: [2][3]

Kenneth John Irvine (5 March 1940 – 22 December 1990),[4] also nicknamed "Mongo",[5] was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. He holds the standing Australian record for the most tries in a first-grade career – 212. No other player has yet managed 200 tries in their Australian club career, with the closest to Irvine's tally being South Sydney Rabbitohs player Alex Johnston who has scored 195 tries. He is also the 2nd all-time top try-scorer for the Australian national team with 33, two behind Darren Lockyer's 35. Irvine's great speed is legendary and he is regarded as Australia's greatest ever winger, being named in 2008 in the list of Australian rugby league's 100 greatest players, as well as being an automatic selection for the Australian Rugby League's "Team of the Century".[6]

Irvine played his club football for the North Sydney and Manly-Warringah clubs in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership, winning the premiership with Manly in 1972 and 1973. His great speed saw him play primarily on the Wing.

  1. ^ a b "1960 World Cup Match". i.ebayimg.com. ebay. Retrieved 17 September 2016.
  2. ^ Rugby League Project
  3. ^ Yesterday's Hero
  4. ^ Moore, Andrew. "Irvine, Kenneth John (Ken) (1940–1990)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  5. ^ "Ken Irvine". Hall of Fame. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
  6. ^ Century's Top 100 Players Archived 25 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine