Eric Tweedale
Australian rugby union player (1921–2023)
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Eric Tweedale (5 May 1921 – 16 October 2023) was an English-born Australian international rugby union player. He played club rugby for Parramatta Two Blues, provincial rugby for New South Wales and internationally for the Australia national rugby union team as a prop.[1] Between 5 May 2021 and his death, he was the oldest living Australian rugby international.[2]
Tweedale in 2011 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 5 May 1921 Rochdale, Lancashire, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Died | 16 October 2023 (aged 102) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Early life
Eric Tweedale was born in Rochdale, England. His family emigrated with him to Australia in 1924 and settled in Merrylands, a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales.[3] He was educated at Metropolitan Business College.[4] When he was 15, he joined Parramatta Two Blues after a suggestion from Bill Cerutti.[5] He started as a lock but then became a prop.[5] During the Second World War, Tweedale joined the Royal Australian Navy and played in Navy representative matches.[3] After returning to Australia, he made his Australian provincial rugby debut for New South Wales in 1946.[3]
International career
In 1946, Tweedale was selected for the Wallabies for the 1946 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand.[5] He was also a part of the 1947–48 Australia rugby union tour of Britain, Ireland, France and North America.[1] He played his last match for the Wallabies against the New Zealand Māori in 1949 after earning ten international caps.[1] He moved to Parkes working for Shell but still played for New South Wales Country against the British Lions.[6] In 1957, he moved back to Sydney to play for Parramatta Two Blues as a player/coach and saved them from relegation from Division 1 of the Shute Shield but retired from playing that year.[5]
Later life
After retiring, Tweedale acted as the president of Parramatta.[5] He was married twice, firstly to Isobel, who died in 1964 and with whom he fathered a daughter, and secondly to Phyllis, who died in 2006. In the late 2000s, Eric reunited with Enid Bradshaw, a lady to whom he had been betrothed in 1942, but the engagement was called off following his time in the Navy.[7] He would become the patron for Parramatta Two Blues (later renamed Western Sydney Two Blues).[8] In 2000, he was awarded the Australian Sports Medal.[9] For his 100th birthday, Cumberland City Council agreed to rename Western Sydney Two Blues' Granville Park stadium as the "Eric Tweedale Stadium".[10]
Tweedale died on 16 October 2023, with his death announced by Rugby Australia.[11][12]