Coaching Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Norman Douglas Somerville Provan
- Nickname(s)
- Sticks
- Born
- Sunday, 18th December, 1932
- Died
- Wednesday, 13th October, 2021 (Aged 88 years and 299 days)
- Place Of Birth
- Urana, New South Wales, Australia
Honours & Awards
Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.
- World Cup
- 1957
- The Ashes
- 1954
- Test Series
- 1956/57 France vs. Australia, Australia vs New Zealand 1959, Australia vs France 1960
- Interstate Series
- 1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1961
- NSWRFL Premiership (NRL)
- 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965
- City Cup
- 1959
- Preseason Cup
- 1963, 1964, 1965
- Clive Churchill Medal
- 1957, 1958, 1963
- International Hall Of Fame
- 2004
- National Rugby League Hall Of Fame
- 2004
- NSWRL Hall Of Fame
- 2017
- Immortal
- 2018
Known Family Links
- Brother
- Peter Provan
Biography
The career of Norm 'Sticks' Provan casts a giant shadow over the game of rugby league. The St George and Australian Test legend played in 10 winning grand finals from 1956-65, the last four as captain-coach, as well as 14 Tests. Provan came into the St George ranks from neighbouring Sutherland in 1950 after the lanky, raw-boned forward missed out on being graded by Easts. He played in St George's loss to Souths in the 1953 grand final but great years lay ahead. In 1954 he played for NSW and in all three Tests against Great Britain. With almost 100kg spread over his 1.93m frame Provan formed a great partnership with Kel O'Shea in Australia's back row. In 1956, the year St George started their record-breaking 11 consecutive premiership wins, Provan toured with the Kangaroos. Injury ruled him out of the Tests against Great Britain but he appeared in three Tests against France at the end of the tour. A member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad the following year Provan played in all three Tests against Great Britain in 1958 and against the Kiwis in 1959. Despite declaring his unavailability for the 1959 Kangaroo Tour, he took on the Frenchmen in 1960 in his final Test series. The retirement of Ken Kearney in 1962 led to Provan's appointment as captain-coach of St George and the club's dominance continued. (The only hiccup during this time was the thrashing St George received by a champion Great Britain team in 1962). In the 1963 grand final Provan's image was immortalised with Wests’ captain Arthur Summons in John O'Gready's famous photograph, 'The Gladiators'. No other photo has captured the sportsmanship and camaraderie in the code. In 1965 Provan announced his retirement and a record SCG crowd of 78,065 fans were on hand to farewell him after yet another grand final victory. Following a season as non-playing coach in 1968, in which he took St George to the preliminary final, Provan had two further stints as coach with P’matta (1975) and grand finalists Cronulla (1978-79) before retiring to Queensland. His legacy in the game is remembered in the striking of the Winfield Cup trophy (1982-95), the Provan-Summons Medal for Best and Fairest player and the current NRL premiership trophy.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Coaching Career Statistics
All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.
To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the List button.
Competitions | ||||||||||||||
Competition | Games | W | L | D | Win % | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tour Matches | St George Dragons | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||||
Tour Matches | Illawarra Firsts | - | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) | 10 | 181 | 124 | 49 | 8 | 68.51% | List | |||||||
NSWRFL Finals | - | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 63.16% | List | |||||||
Preseason Cup | 3 | 36 | 25 | 7 | 4 | 69.44% | List | |||||||
Midweek Cup | - | 15 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 73.33% | List | |||||||
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Australia - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | Games | W | L | D | Win % | ||||||||
Illawarra Firsts | 1974 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||||||
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NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Year | ||||||||||||||
Team | Season | Games | W | L | D | Win % | ||||||||
St George | NSWRFL 1962 | 20 | 15 | 4 | 1 | 75.00% | List | |||||||
St George | NSWRFL 1963 | 21 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 80.95% | List | |||||||
St George | NSWRFL 1964 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 85.00% | List | |||||||
St George | NSWRFL 1965 | 20 | 17 | 3 | 0 | 85.00% | List | |||||||
St George | NSWRFL 1968 | 24 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 58.33% | List | |||||||
Parramatta | NSWRFL 1975 | 26 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||||||
Cronulla | NSWRFL 1978 | 26 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 65.38% | List | |||||||
Cronulla | NSWRFL 1979 | 24 | 14 | 9 | 1 | 58.33% | List | |||||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Team | ||||||||||||||
Team | Years | Games | W | L | D | Win % | ||||||||
St George | 1962-65, 1968 | 105 | 80 | 20 | 5 | 76.19% | List | |||||||
Parramatta | 1975 | 26 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 50.00% | List | |||||||
Cronulla | 1978-79 | 50 | 31 | 17 | 2 | 62.00% | List | |||||||
Overall | 1962-1979 | 181 | 124 | 49 | 8 | 68.51% | List |
Contributions:
Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Max Turner, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, Paul Carter, Michael Borg, Tony McCarron, Bill Bates, Tim Costello
Your Say
07/10/2013
He definitely already should be a immortal
11/07/2016
I have lived in Orange for the past 50 years . When I lived in Sydney my mates and I watched saints nearly every weekend. we would go along and watch all three grades . Most of the time we would go to the cricket ground as the game of the day. The best footballer in the era to me was Reg gasnier Norm Sticks Provan was also one of the best of his era . They say when retired he was still God enough to play for Australia. Should have been immortal years ago
12/10/2016
Norm Provan is to my mind the epitome of a sporting legend.
The immortal badge is a farce contrived by the media who have bought and paid for a game that no longer belonges to those who love it .
"Sticks " will always be the greatest rugby league player I have had the honour to have seen ( as a 12year old at the time )
Shame on the greedy big noting channel nine who think they can buy and control .
14/05/2019
God came down to play for St George and called himself Norm Provan
28/03/2020
Norm should have been a immortal long time before andrew johns and wally lewis
17/03/2023
Norm Provan Played 256 Games Not 255.
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