Terry Randall
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Sydney, New South Wales
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Terry William Randall | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 5 February 1951 Sydney, New South Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Second-row, Prop, Lock, Centre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Relatives | Chad Randall (son) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Terry William "Igor" Randall (born 5 February 1951 in Sydney, New South Wales) is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played for the Manly-Warringah club in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership.[3] He is regularly named in all-time great teams and polls.[4][5] He also represented New South Wales and Australia. He began his career in 1970 as a Centre, but soon after in 1972 was switched to the forwards by coach Ron Willey, primarily playing in the second-row. His nickname was Igor.[6]
He is the father of Chad Randall who made his debut for Manly in 2003. Chad also played as a hooker for the London Broncos in the Super League competition.
Manly-Warringah
He was regarded for his defence, in which is he is noted as one of, if not the, hardest tacklers in the history of the game. In a testament to his toughness and talent, Randall never started one of his 208 games for the Sea Eagles from the bench. Terry was rewarded for his toughness when named as one of the toughest 12 players in Rugby League.
A local Manly junior from the North Curl Curl club, initially he was a hard tackling centre when graded by the Sea Eagles before making his first grade debut in 1970 against St George at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Randall scored a try on debut, though the Sea Eagles lost 22–14. Randall played in the second-row in Manly's first ever NSWRFL premiership win in 1972. He backed that up by also playing in Manly's 1973, 1976 and 1978 premiership wins.
During the 1978 season, Terry Randall became the first player to receive a perfect 10 rating by Rugby League Week in Manly's 19–5 win over St George at Brookvale Oval. He was also instrumental in Manly's incredible 1978 finals series performance that included 2 draws in a total of 6 games played over 24 days to climax with victory in the Grand Final Replay. According to Manly and Australian coach Frank Stanton, during the finals series Randall was often only able to take his place on the side after receiving numerous pain killing injections. Randall was the player in the 1978 Grand Final that put up the "high, high Garryowen" that ultimately led to a try by Manly's Tom Mooney following multiple fumbles and trips by players and even referee, Greg Hartley. The try and Rex Mossop's inimitable commentary was the intro piece for Seven's Big League during 1979.
Terry Randall made an on-the-spot decision to retire from playing immediately following Manly's 8–21 loss to defending premiers, the Parramatta Eels in the 1982 Grand Final, telling his teammates as they left the field that he had simply "had enough" (the decision was so sudden, he had not even discussed it with his wife beforehand). Randall hung his boots on a hook in the SCG dressing rooms and never played again.
Long remembered by adoring Sea Eagles fans, signs appeared in the crowd at Brookvale Oval during Manly's 1987 premiership year telling second rower Ron Gibbs to "Give back Randall's jumper" after it was revealed that "Rambo" Gibbs (himself a hard tackler like Igor) would leave Manly at the end of the year to play for the Gold Coast Giants for their inaugural year in 1988. Though Gibbs did win back the fans with a number of impressive performances which culminated in their 18–10 Grand Final win over the Canberra Raiders.