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Geoff Bland

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Geoff Bland
Full nameGeoffrey Victor Bland
Date of birth(1905-09-26)26 September 1905
Place of birthManly, Australia
Date of death26 February 1961(1961-02-26) (aged 55)
Place of deathGlasgow, Scotland
SchoolManly High School
St Mary's Cathedral College
Rugby union career
Position(s) Forward
International career
Years Team Apps (Points)
1928–33 Australia 8[Note 1] (0)

Geoffrey Victor Bland (26 September 1905 – 26 February 1961) was an Australian rugby union international.

Biography

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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

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Notes

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  1. ^ 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

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  1. ^ a b "Geoffrey Victor Bland". classicwallabies.com.au.
  2. ^ "Famous Forward Weds". The Daily Mirror. 3 June 1941. p. 28 (Late Final) – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ "Ex-Waratah In War At 40". The Daily Telegraph. 23 May 1944. p. 12 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ "Rugby Player G. Bland Dead". The Canberra Times. 28 February 1961. p. 16 – via National Library of Australia.
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