Robert Robertson Craig (1 September 1881 – 5 March 1935) was an Australian rugby union and pioneer professional rugby league footballer who represented his country at both sports - a dual-code rugby international. He was a member of the Australian rugby union team, which won the gold medal at the 1908 Summer Olympics. Prior to his rugby career he won state championships in swimming and soccer and played top-level water polo.
All round sportsman Prior to his rugby career, Craig was one of Australia's greatest all-round sportsmen. He won eight consecutive State swimming championships between 1899 and 1906; he appeared in four Sydney premiership winning water polo sides and in 1905 he was a member of the Balmain soccer club which that year won the Gardiner Cup, the NSW State competition.Sydney Sportsman Wed 4 October 1905 p.7The Rugby League News Sydney 11 August 1923
Rugby union career Nicknamed 'Boneta' to this rugby friends, Craig was chosen from the Balmain club to represent Australia on its 1908-09 Wallabies tour of Great Britain and North America. During the tour Craig played in one Test match against Wales. He famously carried with him a carpet snake on the ship to Britain and smuggled it through customs with the aid of team mate Tom Richards. Craig won an Olympic gold medal in London in the Wallabies team captained by Chris McKivat who defeated England (represented by Cornwall county XV). On his return to Australia, he joined the fledgling code of rugby league along with 13 of his Olympic teammates.
Rugby league career His club football was played with the Balmain Tigers whom he helped to win four premierships between 1915 and 1919.
Craig made his international league debut in the first test in Sydney on 18 June 1910. Four of his former Wallaby teammates also debuted that day John Barnett, Jack Hickey, Charles Russell and Chris McKivat – making them collectively Australia's 11th to 15th dual code internationals. This repeated a similar occurrence two years earlier when five former Wallabies in Micky Dore, Dally Messenger, Denis Lutge, Doug McLean snr and John Rosewell all debuted for the Kangaroos in the first ever test against New Zealand, he also represented Australasia.
Craig played in both rugby league tests against Great Britain in Australia in 1910 and was selected on the 1911–12 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He played 31 tour matches and scored 7 tries. He played at second row in all three victorious tests of the tour. He is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No.64.ARL Annual Report 2005
He returned to representative honors in 1914 playing two tests when Australia hosted the Great Britain tourists. All up, Craig played in seven rugby league tests and thirty-five times for Australia.
Post-football Craig was secretary of the Balmain Tigers between 1919 and 1922 and was also a delegate to the NSWRFL in 1923–1924. For a period, he served as a state selector. He spent some years in Inverell, New South Wales as a publican at the Royal Hotel.Sydney Morning Herald: NOTED FOOTBALLER – Death of R.R.Carig 6 March 1935
In the financial crises of the 1930s, he suffered losses and saw a bleak future ahead. He died by suicide by hanging himself at a hospital in Leichhardt after being mentally ill for some time.Moran, Herbert (1939) Viewless Winds reproduced in The Spirit of Rugbyp184The Referee, Sydney: Bob Craig's Death. 7 March 1935 Bob Craig was privately cremated at Rookwood. He was survived by his wife, Eleanor, and three children.Sydney Morning Herald: Death Notice. 9 March 1935 (page 14)
See also Rugby union at the 1908 Summer Olympics
Footnotes
References Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League, Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney Collection (1995) Gordon Bray presents The Spirit of Rugby, HarperCollins Publishers Sydney Moran, Herbert (1939) Viewless Winds – the recollections and digressions of an Australian surgeon P Davies, London Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
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