Code loses a gladiator and a gentleman
THE rugby league world is in mourning following the death of a legend of the game, Arthur Summons – forever immortalised on the NRL competition trophy.
Summons, 84, died on Saturday after a long illness. He had spent a considerable time in hospital.
A private service will be held this week at Wagga Wagga in southern NSW.
A dual international who played seven matches for NSW, Summons was one half of the famous “Gladiators” photo, taken alongside Dragons skipper Norm Provan in the SCG mud after the 1963 grand final between Wests and St George.
Parramatta great Peter Sterling labelled Summons a “class act” while NSW coach Brad Fittler described the former Western Suburbs star as everything that is great about rugby league.
“When you look at that trophy,” Fittler said of the famed “Gladiators” pose, “it just shows you why rugby league is so great.
“Whenever you saw Arthur, he was always with Norm. They were always at presentations. And Norm is so tall. And then Arthur is tiny. He was just a gentleman.
“So many rugby league blokes are pretty ocker, they gibe each other. But Arthur was such a gentleman.
“Every time you spoke with him, he was well spoken … he was a really brilliant person to have around rugby league.”
A former Kangaroos captain who led Australia between 1962 and 1964, Summons was captain-coach of the 1963-64 Kangaroo squad which toured England and France.
In 2008, Summons was named in Australia’s top 100 players and, in that same year, was an inaugural inductee in Wests’ Hall of Fame.