Tommy Bishop

Playing Career

Vital Statistics

Born
Tuesday, 15th October, 1940
Current Age
83 years and 156 days

Awards & Accolades

RLW Player of the Year
1970

Biography

Terrier-sized St Helens and Great Britain halfback transformed the fledgling Cronulla club into a premiership force in the early 1970s. Bishop had toured Australia with the Lions in 1966 and again in the 1968 World Cup before being signed by the Sharks in 1969. After captaining Great Britain against France in 1969-70, he took on the captain-coach role with the Sharks for the 1970 season. Under his leadership, Cronulla produced an open style of attacking football and when countryman Cliff Watson joined him in 1971, the club enjoyed its best season on record. Bishop snapped his Achilles tendon in 1972 and returned home to England to recover and missed the entire season. The following year proved to be a watershed in the club's history; Cronulla finished second to Manly in the minor premiership and qualified for its first grand final appearance. Many were critical of Bishop's tactics in the match, with the Sharks' uncharacteristic strong-arm tactics failing to unsettle the more-experienced Sea Eagles. Bishop's efforts never wavered though, setting up a try for Rick Bourke to keep his young team in the match until the final whistle. At the conclusion of the season, Bishop and Watson failed to come to terms with the financially rattled club and Bishop went to captain-coach Northern Suburbs in the Brisbane competition. However his short-lived time as coach of Norths in 1979 was a disaster, as was his return to Cronulla in 1980. Bishop briefly returned to England after this career setback and coached Workington in 1982-83.
- ALAN WHITICKER

Playing 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   App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Tour Matches Great Britain 22 4 -   3 18 12 11 0 54.55% List
Test Series 8 1 -   3 - 4 4 0 50.00% List
The Ashes 6 1 -   3 18 2 4 0 33.33% List
World Cup 3 - -   - - 1 2 0 33.33% List
NRL 60 21 -   2 66 32 28 0 53.33% List
Craven Mild Cup 9 2 -   - 6 6 2 1 66.67% List
Tour Matches Sydney Colts 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List
Endeavour Cup 2 - -   1 2 1 1 0 50.00% List
NRL Finals 4 1 -   1 4 2 2 0 50.00% List


International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Great Britain 1966-69 15 1 -   3 9 8 7 0 53.33% List

World Cup Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Great Britain 1966-1968 3 - -   - - 1 2 0 33.33% List


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Sydney Colts 1970 1 - -   - - 0 1 0 0.00% List


Club Career

NRL/NSWRL - By Year

Team Season App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla NSWRFL 1969 8 1 -   - 3 3 5 0 37.50% List
Cronulla NSWRFL 1970 20 9 -   1 29 9 11 0 45.00% List
Cronulla NSWRFL 1971 10 2 -   - 6 5 5 0 50.00% List
Cronulla NSWRFL 1973 22 9 -   1 28 15 7 0 68.18% List

NRL/NSWRL - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Cronulla 1969-71, 1973 60 21 -   2 66 32 28 0 53.33% List

Your Say

  • Paul Carter
    09/08/2012

    In 1970.Bishop was the inaurgaural winner.Of the Rugby League Week player of the year.

  • Geoff Prenter
    30/09/2016

    The best 10-pound Pom to ever come to Australia. The "white rabbit" was a sheer joy to watch.

  • kevin
    08/03/2019

    best halfback I ever saw.amazing weaving fast player.great captain amazing ball skills

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Contributions: Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Rugby League Tables, Paul Carter, Alan Katzmann, Stephen Bell