RIP Arthur Beetson

[SeaEagleRock8]

A good man. He was a towering figure in his playing days and he only grew in stature with his work post-retirement. Which makes him pretty unusual, and it's a significant loss for the game. I never met him but condolences to his family.

 

[Jono]

Very sad day. Sucks he was a Queenslander but a legend none the less. RIP Artie

 

[Napper]

I remember when i was a kid i was in Coles with my mum and she said "theres Arthur Beetson" didnt know who he was and i looked over and saw the big fella with a trolley full of frozen pies haha!! Just read he was The first indigenous Australian to captain an Australian sports team. Legendary player. Legendary Australian. R.I.P Big fella!!

 

[BOZO]

He absolutely dominated games but he hated Manly.

Every body hates us because Manly dominate.

 

[cyms12]

RIP Arthur true legend of the game. Did so much great work for country Rugby League and seemed a lone voice at times on the issue of it's neglect. A true gentlemen RIP.

 

[Ian Martin tragic]

Sad news. don't remember much of him before he was in the great Easts teams of 74-75 under gibson. Certainly no argument from me if you want to call him the greatest forward ever. Strength, skill, defense.

Manly played them in 74 at the SCG, the old match of the day. We got beaten to nil from memory. It was a lousy birthday present :-( Like the anecdote about him playing in retirement, he was virtually impossible to knock over. I remember one time he had 3 guys hit him as hard as they could and then try to wrestle him over. He managed to bend over and play the ball while they were still working to drag him down.

On the attack Beetson would hit it up, gather a couple of defenders, and they would have 2 or three waves of players coming through. People like Ron Coote, Bunny Reilly and Johnny Mayes and Russell Fairfax just had a field day running off Artie. He could also bulldoze his own way through for a break or a try.

Like Bozo, truly worth the tags 'great' and 'immortal'.

In probably 1975 or 76 I was at a schoolboys footy carnival at the park on anzac parade near the SFS and the Football stadium. Beetson and Ian Mackay (I think) were there. They spent a good 30 mins or so with us forwards teaching us how to pack in to a scrum the way they did it. It was completely bizarre to us who as good schoolboys in the hands of strict refs who wanted nice clean scrums would just pack in the usual way (in straight lines, with 2nd rowers poking their heads through between the props etc etc). They explained the logic which was all about setting the front row so the hooker was packed in facing out the tunnel toward the ball, and stabilised by very strangely placed 2nd rowers.

Anyway we tried it for 2 scrums then gave up and went back to the usual way. He must have been a good teacher though cos I reckon I could still show 6 blokes how to do it....