Billy Moore (rugby league)

Billy Moore (born 7 May 1971)[2] is a former rugby league footballer who played as a lock or second-row forward in the 1980s and 1990s. He played representative football for both Queensland and Australia.

Billy Moore
Personal information
Born (1971-05-07) 7 May 1971
Tenterfield, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
Weight95 kg (14 st 13 lb)
PositionLock, Second-row
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1989–99 North Sydney Bears 211 34 0 0 136
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1992–97 Queensland 17 1 0 0 4
1995–97 Australia 3 0 0 0 0
Source: [1]

Early life

Moore grew up in Wallangarra, Queensland. He was born in Tenterfield (NSW), due to the hospital there being closer than the one in Stanthorpe (QLD). Moore was quoted as saying "My Mum assures me I was rushed back to the Channel Country before the oxygen had time to affect my lungs."[3]

Playing career

Moore represented New South Wales under-17s while in high school at Stanthorpe, Qld. He moved to the North Sydney Bears in 1989 and played in the club's reserve grade premiership side. Speaking with the media in 2019, Moore recalled his time when he first joined Norths saying "All this talk about the Bears being losers, I didn’t give a shit about it, I hated it, I despised the fact that we even mentioned it, because that was the legacy of the past, that wasn’t something we’d carry into the future".[4]

With a radical change of the guard the following year, Moore and a number of other players (including long-time back-row partner David Fairleigh) became regular first graders the following year and propelled the club from also-rans in 1989 to finalists in 1991. Although Moore damaged a jaw at the start of that year, he played superbly in the first semi-final win by the Bears for 39 years against Manly, scoring two tries. Moore was first selected in Queensland's State of Origin side in 1992. Moore was the sole try-scorer in the Maroons' 5-4 win in the second match of the series at Lang Park.

Moore was a regular selection for the maroon jersey for three seasons and famously yelled 'Queenslander! Queenslander!' in an attempt to motivate an underdog Maroons team on their way out of the tunnel in 1995, even though he is from New South Wales.[5] Moore was reacting to the fact that New South Wales players had said they would belt the first person that said he was a Queenslander. The young Queenslanders won the series 3 nil without its star Super League players. While Moore was initially overlooked for Test duty against New Zealand, he won a place in Australia's World Cup squad at the end of the year. He made one appearance in the competition, against South Africa, before playing further ARL Tests against Fiji (1996) and Rest of the World (1997) in consecutive years.

He continued to play for his club in subsequent semi-final campaigns but his representative career ended when he was left out of the Queensland team for the 1998 series. At the end of 1999, Moore failed to secure a contract with the merged Northern Eagles club and reluctantly retired.

As part of the South Sydney Rabbitohs push to be reinstated in first grade, Moore played for the club in promotional games to raise money and awareness and to gain support of the rugby league community for a readmission into the NRL which was ultimately successful in 2002.[6][7]

Post playing

In 2000, Moore was awarded the Australian Sports Medal for his contribution to Australia's international standing in rugby league. In August, 2006 he was named in the North Sydney Bears' Team of the Century. He now co-owns a restaurant on Queensland's Sunshine Coast.[8]

In 2011, Moore became the ambassador for a second Brisbane NRL expansion team.[9] In 2015, Moore became a panelist on Fox Sports for the NRL 360 show. In July 2015, Moore was forced to apologize after making derogatory comments regarding the New Zealand Warriors playing style. Moore read a statement saying “I would like to sincerely apologise to anyone that was offended by my comment regarding the New Zealand Warriors playing style, particularly the Polynesian community – many of whom I played with and am great mates with".[10]

In 2017, Moore advocated for the return of the North Sydney Bears as a merged entity with the Gold Coast Titans. There were talks of Norths buying the Gold Coast licence with the club being rebranded as the Gold Coast Bears, which would have also resulted in the creation of a new logo and the return of the famous red and black colors. At the end of 2017, the bid ultimately failed with the licence being purchased by Rebecca Frizelle and Darryl Kelly.[11]

gollark: == 1 + 1
gollark: *wizard*
gollark: =pup evolution from random initial conditions of rule 120
gollark: =pup evolution from simple initial condition of rule 44
gollark: amazing.

References
  1. RLP
  2. Ritchie, Dean (6 April 2011). "Not being from Queensland no bar to Cane Toad State of Origin selection". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2011.
  3. Sharwood, Anthony (15 June 2011). "Why Queensland care more, and NSW couldn't care less". The Punch. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  4. "Norths in the 1990s and why glory eluded rugby leagues most tortured club". www.news.com.au.
  5. http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/state-of-origin/billy-moore-reveals-story-of-the-queenslander-cry-20130626-2owa0.html
  6. https://www.dailyliberal.com.au/story/799633/bush-could-do-with-rabbitohs/
  7. https://www.rabbitohs.com.au/news/2018/04/20/flashback-a-day-of-celebration-on-the-central-coast/
  8. "Old Earth rises as new bistro" sunshinecoastdaily.com
  9. https://www.couriermail.com.au/sport/nrl/billy-moore-betrays-his-north-sydney-bears-heritage-by-joining-second-brisbane-bid-for-nrl-inclusion/news-story/3652080e573f5a17c0f98f1bbd346310?sv=adf2d0379529437c6690b60f5e905737
  10. https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/billy-moore-issues-apology-after-comment-made-on-nrl-360/news-story/1e79784ce0ce5b8a566e0e74daf6db63
  11. https://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/sport/nrl/bears-rugby-league-legend-billy-moore-urges-fans-to-see-benefit-of-gold-coast-nrl-licence-sale/news-story/b780dc97c519e876a636c80c17c1377c
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