Ian Moir

Dazzling speedster was rated the fastest man in rugby league during the 1950s. A beach sprint champion, Moir won a professional sprint race worth £500 (the Canberra Gift) early in his career. In 1958 the former Wollongong winger won the NSWRL 110 yards Championship, running 11.1s in full football gear (the race was held at the SCG prior to the Third Test against Great Britain, in which Moir played, with Ken Irvine finishing second). Joining Souths in 1952, Moir played his first match for NSW but was unavailable because of injury when the Kangaroos left for England. In 1953 he was the season's leading try-scorer with 20 tries and, in a devastating display of pace and power, scored three tries in the 1953 final win over St George - the start of three straight premierships for the Rabbitohs. Moir broke into Australia’s World Cup squad in 1954 and finally made his Test debut against NZ in 1956 before touring with the 1956-57 Kangaroos. His career was to yield another World Cup campaign (1957) and a total of 8 Test appearances (the highlight being a three-try effort against NZ in 1959). Moir, who scored a club record-equalling 5 tries for Souths in a match against P’matta in 1957, saw out the final two seasons in Sydney with the big-spending Wests club. He proved that he was not a spent force at international level with Test appearances against Great Britain in 1958 and NZ in 1959. Thirty years later, Moir showed that he had lost none of his old magic when he won the NSW Veterans (50-54yrs) 100m Championship (running 12.7s!) in 1988.