Michael Anthony Ellem (born 10 July 1952) was a rugby union fullback who represented Australia.
| Date of birth | 10 July 1952[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Sydney[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Ellem played for Western Suburbs (now West Harbour) in the Sydney Rugby Union 1st Division competition. He earned his first representative honour playing for New South Wales against Wellington in July 1975. He retained his spot for the match against arch-rivals Queensland the following week.[2]
Ellem missed selection for the Sydney team that played Fiji in 1976, and was selected on the reserves bench for New South Wales, but got his chance due to an early injury to first choice fullback Jim Hindmarsh. Ellem impressed in New South Wales' 37–6 victory.[2]
Ellem was selected in the Australian squad for the test series against Fiji in 1976, but did not earn a cap until the third and final test of the series, coming on as a reserve.[2] In doing so, he became the second Wests player since World War II to represent Australia.[3] Shortly after taking the field, the Fijian team walked off the field, after their captain was sent off. After the resumption, Australia went on to win the game 27–19.[4]
Ellem was selected for Sydney's tour of Japan, Canada, the United Kingdom and Russia, and was fullback for Sydney's 1978 team which defeated Wales 18–16.[2]
Ellem continued played for Wests for a number of years following, before retiring to coach Wests.[2]
To honour Ellem, the West Harbour player of the year award is named in Ellem's honour.[2]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e "Michael Anthony Ellem". ESPN scrum. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Historical Wallabies Player Profile". Australian Rugby Union. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ^ "History". West Harbour RFC. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ^ Greg., Growden (1 January 2010). Inside the Wallabies : the real story, the players, the politics and the games from 1908 to today. Allen & Unwin. ISBN 9781741759709. OCLC 647159923.
External links
edit- Mick Ellem at ESPNscrum
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