Above: The original Immortals Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Johnny Raper and Reg Gasnier at the SCG in 1981
JOHNNY RAPER (April 12, 1939 – February 9, 2022)
Such was Johnny Raper’s immense contribution to Australian Rugby League that he has been offered a state funeral by New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet.
His son Stuart, the former Castleford, Wigan and Cronulla Sharks coach, spoke of the family’s pride at an honour rarely given to sportsmen.
“It was quite a shock,” he told News Corp after the death of his father aged 82 after a long battle with dementia.
“I went to all the family, we discussed it and we took up the offer.
“It is a huge respect to dad and his standing in the game, not only as a player but as an individual and an ambassador.
“For me, just growing up and the way he met people and people looked at him, he was well respected. He was very well liked.”
Stuart Raper said he had spoken to Scott Fulton, whose father Bob was offered a state funeral last year.
Like Raper, Fulton was one of the original Immortals and he is the last of them to have passed away.
The state government initially declined to offer Fulton a state funeral, but then-premier Gladys Berejiklian changed her mind after an overwhelming backlash from the public.
“I spoke to Scott Fulton about how it worked if it was going to happen,” he added.
“He said it was such a great honour, Bozo (Fulton) was such a great player. Being one of those first original Immortals was such a big thing.
“Dad knew so many people in so many circles of life.”
Perrottet confirmed that the Raper family had accepted his offer, which was given in recognition of Raper’s “remarkable contribution to the sport of Rugby League”.
“On behalf of the people of New South Wales, I extend my condolences to Mr Raper’s wife Caryl and three sons Stuart, Kurt and Aaron, and his extended family and friends,” said Perrottet.
“Johnny Raper was one of the original four ‘immortals’, alongside Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton and (fellow St George great) Reg Gasnier, and his Rugby League career was outstanding.
“He gave so much to the sport and to this state. We will all have an opportunity to honour his memory, his talent and his achievements at a state funeral.
“He was respected, much-loved and gave so much to the game, inspiring many thousands of players who wanted to play like him.
“Aside from his on-field skills, he was also considered one of the game’s greatest characters.”
Nicknamed ‘Chook’, Raper was a forward who earned a then-record 39 Test caps for Australia between 1959 and 1968. They included six World Cup games.
He captained Australia on eight occasions in 1967 and 1968 and featured in eight consecutive NSWRFL Grand Final victories for St George Dragons from 1959-66.
Raper also played for Newtown and Newcastle clubs Wests and Kurri Kurri.
He started his first-grade career at Newtown in 1957, after being a member of the 1956 premiership-winning Newtown President’s Cup junior representative team, before joining St George two years later and three into their famed ‘Never Before, Never Again’ run of eleven consecutive premierships.
In 1969, Raper captain-coached the Red V to a minor semi-final berth before calling time on his illustrious first-grade career.
That was after 215 games and 57 tries (180 and 47 with St George).
Five seasons in the Newcastle competition followed before he returned to the NSWRL Premiership in a coaching capacity at the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks (1975-76) and Newtown Jets (1978).
There were 35 tour matches as well as 39 Tests for Australia, whom he captained to success in the 1968 World Cup.
The four-team tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand was played on a mini-league basis after which the top two, Australia and France, met in front of a then-World Cup final record 54,290 at the Sydney Cricket Ground. The home side ran out 20-2 victors.
Meanwhile, many rated Raper’s performance in the Second Test against Great Britain on the 1963/64 tour – the 50-12 ‘Swinton Massacre’ which secured Australia the Ashes in England for the first time in more than 50 years – as the greatest 80 minutes of rugby by any one player.
Raper also donned the blue of New South Wales 31 times.
He was named one of the first-ever Immortals in 1981. Induction to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame followed four years later.
He entered the Australia Rugby League Hall of Fame in 2002 and earned selection in Australia Rugby League’s Team of the Century in 2008.
His feats on the field were matched by his antics off it.
Raper had a reputation as a lovable larrikin (the Australian term for a boisterous person with apparent disregard for convention). He enjoyed a drink and a good time, but never let it affect his performances.
“Johnny Raper was an inspiration to his team-mates and the entire St George organisation and is one of the key reasons why the famous Red V holds such esteem to this very day,” said St George Illawarra Dragons and St George District chairman Craig Young.
“Johnny was a larger-than-life character on and off the field who loved the game dearly. He will be sadly missed and never forgotten.
“Everyone involved with St George District and the St George Illawarra Dragons send their condolences to the Raper family.”
Newtown said on their club website: “To get an understanding of why he was so good you have to listen to the opinions of those he played with and against and evaluate what he did in the context of the times.
“There were plenty of great players before Johnny Raper but as the vision from the time shows he had a skill set to match any of them.
“He was as good a defender as ever laced on a boot, in the front line if needed but especially in cover defence where he set new standards of excellence.
“In attack he could run into holes, especially earlier in his career, but he also developed ball skills and an ability to read the play in attack that made him equally dangerous with the ball in his hands.
“And it was all underpinned by a level of fitness that was above and beyond what anyone else had done before – and again there were plenty of strong athletes who had played prior to the Raper era.
“His fitness gave him a motor that allowed him to go for the full 80 minutes, and in an era of tough men and sometimes brutal play he could take his share of punishment and dish it out if needed.”
The above content is also available in the regular weekly edition of League Express, on newsstands every Monday in the UK and as a digital download. Click here for more details.
