Geoff Bland
| Full name | Geoffrey Victor Bland | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 26 September 1905 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Manly, Australia | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 26 February 1961 (aged 55) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland | ||||||||||||||||
| School | Manly High School St Mary's Cathedral College | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Geoffrey Victor Bland (26 September 1905 – 26 February 1961) was an Australian rugby union international.
Biography[edit]
Bland, a native of Sydney, was educated at Manly High School and St Mary's Cathedral College. He was a surf life saver with the North Steyne Surf Lifesaving Club, regarded as one of the best sweep oarsman in New South Wales.[1]
Primarily a lock forward, Bland was a line-out specialist and began his first-grade career with Manly in 1925. Two year later, he achieved a New South Wales call up for the eight-month long 1927–28 tour of the British Isles, France and Canada, playing six matches over the course of the trip. He was also a member of the New South Wales team that toured New Zealand in 1928 and played in a win over a NZ XV in Christchurch, which would retrospectively become his Test debut (due to the fact the Wallabies were not competing at this time). After a four-year hiatus, Bland made further Test appearances in 1932 and 1933, this time in Wallabies colours, which included matches on the 1933 tour of South Africa.[1]
Bland relocated to Scotland at the conclusion of the South Africa tour and married his wife Eileen in 1941.[2] During World War II, he was a lieutenant with the Irish Guards, taking part in the Battle of Anzio.[3] He died in Glasgow in 1961 at the age of 55.[4]
See also[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ According to Rugby Australia website classicwallabies.com.au, Bland was capped nine times. They credit Bland with one further Test match on the 1933 South Africa tour.
References[edit]
- ^ a b "Geoffrey Victor Bland". classicwallabies.com.au.
- ^ "Famous Forward Weds". The Daily Mirror. 3 June 1941. p. 28 (Late Final) – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Ex-Waratah In War At 40". The Daily Telegraph. 23 May 1944. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Rugby Player G. Bland Dead". The Canberra Times. 28 February 1961. p. 16 – via National Library of Australia.