Viv Thicknesse
{{Short description|Australia international rugby league player}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2024}}
{{Use Australian English|date=July 2013}}
{{Infobox rugby league biography
|name=Viv Thicknesse
| first = RU
| caption =
|birth_name=Vivian Arthur Thicknesse
|birth_date= 18 November 1910
|birth_place = Temora, New South Wales
|death_date = {{death date and age|1986|8|19|1910|11|18|df=y}}
|death_place = Orange, New South Wales
|height=
|weight=
|ru_position= Half-back
| ru_club1 = {{nowrap|Eastern Suburbs RUFC}}
| ru_year1start = 1930
| ru_year1end = 32
| ru_teamA = New South Wales
| ru_yearAstart = 1930
| position = {{rlp|HB}}
| club1 = {{nowrap|Eastern Suburbs}}
| year1start = 1933
| year1end = 37
| appearances1 = 75
| tries1 = 19
| goals1 = 0
| fieldgoals1 = 0
| points1 = 57
| teamA =NSW
| yearAstart = 1933
| yearAend = 36
| appearancesA = 11
| triesA = 3
| goalsA = 0
| fieldgoalsA = 0
| pointsA = 9
| teamB = Australia
| yearBstart = 1933
| yearBend = 35
| appearancesB = 7
| triesB = 0
| goalsB = 0
| fieldgoalsB = 0
| pointsB = 0
}}
Viv Thicknesse (1910–1986) was an Australian dual-code rugby half-back, a state representative in both rugby league and rugby union. His rugby league career was spent with the champion Eastern Suburbs sides of the 1930s and he represented Australia in that code in seven Tests.
Playing career
Following his schooling at Sydney Boys High School in the 1920s,{{cite web| url=http://www.shsobu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sport.pdf | title=Australian Sporting Representatives | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091006135912/http://www.shsobu.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sport.pdf | archive-date=2009-10-06}} Thicknesse was a half-back with Sydney's Eastern Suburbs Rugby Union Club. He switched to the professional code in 1931 and joined Eastern Suburbs' rugby league side. He was a member of the Tricolours' champion teams of the 1930s and won consecutive premierships with the club in the NSWRL seasons of 1935, 1936 and 1937. He captained the 1937 side.
He represented New South Wales on eleven occasions between 1933 and 1936 and made his international debut for Australia on the 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain where he appeared in two Tests and in sixteen minor matches. He played in further Test series against New Zealand in 1935 and against Great Britain in 1936 for a total of seven career Test appearances. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 181.ARL Annual Report 2005, page 53 He formed a formidable representative halves pairing with Wests great Vic Hey and with his Easts clubmate Ernie Norman.
Accolades
A halfback, Thicknesse was renowned for his passing game and was selected in Eastern Suburbs 'Team of the Century'. Dally Messenger once said of Viv Thicknesse that "he rated him the equal of any half he had seen play the game".
In February 2008, Thicknesse was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.{{cite news|author=Peter Cassidy|publisher=Macquarie National News|title=Controversy reigns as NRL releases top 100 players|url=http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players|access-date=2008-02-23|date=2008-02-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225164807/http://www.livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/02/22/Controversy_reigns_as_NRL_releases_top_100_players|archive-date=25 February 2008|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|publisher=NRL & 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|archive-url=https://archive.today/20080226180521/http://www.centenaryofrugbyleague.com.au/site/the-players.aspx?cat=3&list=true|archive-date=26 February 2008|url-status=dead}}
Legacy
Viv Thicknesse maintained scrapbooks throughout his playing career, and a diary of the 1933–34 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. In 2012, the State Library of New South Wales acquired Viv Thicknesse's scrapbooks and diaries.{{Cite journal|last=Carr|first=Andy|date=Summer 2013–14|title=This Sporting Life|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/sites/default/files/SL_Magazine_summer_2013_14_lr.pdf|journal=SL Magazine|volume=6|issue=4|page=35}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.acmssearch.sl.nsw.gov.au/search/itemDetailPaged.cgi?itemID=1045413|title=Viv Thicknesse tour diary, scrapbooks, and photographs, 1931-1934 [catalogue record]|website=State Library of New South Wales Manuscripts, Oral History and Pictures Catalogue|publisher=State Library of New South Wales|access-date=2 September 2016}}File:1933 Thicknesse w480.jpg
Sources
- Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
- Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
References
{{reflist}}
{{1935 Kangaroo Tour of New Zealand squad}}
{{Eastern Suburbs squad 1935 NSWRFL premiership}}
{{Eastern Suburbs squad - 1936 NSWRFL premiers}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thicknesse, Viv}}
Category:Australian rugby league players
Category:Australian rugby union players
Category:Eastern Suburbs RUFC players
Category:Sydney Roosters players
Category:New South Wales rugby league team players
Category:New South Wales rugby union team players
Category:Australia national rugby league team players
Category:Rugby league players from Temora, New South Wales
Category:People educated at Sydney Boys High School
Category:Footballers who switched code