Playing Career
Vital Statistics
- Full Name
- Brian Clinton Hambly
- Nickname(s)
- Grumpy
- Born
- Sunday, 31st October, 1937
- Died
- Saturday, 30th August, 2008 (Aged 70 years and 303 days)
Honours & Awards
Based only on data available in the RLP database. This information should be used as a guide only.
- The Ashes
- 1963/1964
- Test Series
- 1959/60 France vs. Australia, Australia vs France 1960, Australia vs New Zealand 1963, 1963/64 France vs. Australia, Australia vs France 1964
- Interstate Series
- 1963
Known Family Links
- Nephew
- Gary Hambly
Biography
Former Souths junior's 18 Test career commenced in 1959, the year he left the club to take on the captain-coaching role at Wagga. ‘Grumpy’ Hambly represented NSW that year and was selected as a reserve for the Test series against NZ. He was the preferred lock in the first two Tests on the 1959-60 Kangaroo tour but the great form of Johnny Raper saw Hambly move to the second row for the remainder of his Test career. After playing against France in 1960 and in the World Cup, he joined P’matta on the then record transfer fee of £2,500. Under Ken Kearney P’matta was very competitive in 1963-65 and Hambly made his second Kangaroo Tour (1963-64) and played in five Tests against Great Britain and France. Ironically, he injured a calf muscle doing private training and missed Australia’s 50-12 win at Swinton that secured the Ashes. His representative career ended after another series against France (1964) and the tour of NZ (1965) but he continued to give great service to the Eels. In 1967 Hambly was named captain-coach of P’matta but feeling the effects of a knee injury, he sacked himself in favour of young prop Bob O'Reilly. He left Sydney soon after and saw out his career in Lithgow.
- 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 | Comp Wins | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Ashes | 1 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00% | List | ||||
| World Cup | - | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | ||||
| Tour Matches | NSW Colts | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Australia | - | 28 | 3 | 3 | - | 15 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 71.43% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | New South Wales Firsts | - | 4 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 3 | 0 | 25.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Parramatta Eels | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | |||
| Tour Matches | Sydney Firsts | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | |||
| Test Series | 6 | 18 | 2 | 2 | - | 10 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 61.11% | List | ||||
| Interstate Series | 1 | 7 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 57.14% | List | ||||
| City vs Country Firsts | - | 2 | 1 | 1 | - | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
| Country Carnival | - | 3 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) | - | 137 | 13 | 46 | - | 131 | 61 | 71 | 5 | 44.53% | List | ||||
| NSWRFL Finals | - | 5 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 4 | 0 | 20.00% | List | ||||
| Preseason Cup | - | 22 | 5 | 1 | - | 17 | 9 | 13 | 0 | 40.91% | List | ||||
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Test Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1959-60, 1963-65 | 23 | 2 | 3 | - | 12 | 15 | 8 | 0 | 65.22% | List | ||||
International Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1959-1960 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Rest Of The World | 1960 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1960 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 1 | 1 | 0 | 50.00% | List | ||||
World Cup Matches - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| Australia | 1959-1960 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 66.67% | List | ||||
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Australia - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| NSW City Seconds | 1957, 1961-63, 1966 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | 1 | 60.00% | List | ||||
| NSW Colts | 1958 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Riverina | 1959 | 1 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| NSW Firsts | 1959-60, 1962-64 | 11 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 45.45% | List | ||||
| NSW Country Firsts | 1959-60 | 3 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| NSW City Firsts | 1964 | 1 | - | 1 | - | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 100.00% | List | ||||
| Sydney Firsts | 1966 | 1 | - | - | - | - | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.00% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1957-1966 | 23 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 20 | 10 | 12 | 1 | 43.48% | List | ||||
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NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Year | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Season | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| South Sydney | NSWRFL 1956 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 3 | 0 | 40.00% | List | ||||
| South Sydney | NSWRFL 1957 | 11 | 5 | - | - | 15 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 63.64% | List | ||||
| South Sydney | NSWRFL 1958 | 17 | 2 | - | - | 6 | 5 | 12 | 0 | 29.41% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1961 | 16 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 3 | 13 | 0 | 18.75% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1962 | 16 | 3 | - | - | 9 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 50.00% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1963 | 16 | 1 | - | - | 3 | 11 | 5 | 0 | 68.75% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1964 | 17 | - | 41 | - | 82 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 70.59% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1965 | 14 | - | - | - | - | 6 | 7 | 1 | 42.86% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1966 | 14 | 1 | 5 | - | 13 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 35.71% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | NSWRFL 1967 | 11 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 9 | 0 | 18.18% | List | ||||
NSWRFL Premiership (NRL) - By Team | |||||||||||||||
| Team | Years | App | T | G | GK % | FG | Pts | W | L | D | Win % | ||||
| South Sydney | 1956-58 | 33 | 7 | - | - | 21 | 14 | 19 | 0 | 42.42% | List | ||||
| Parramatta | 1961-67 | 104 | 6 | 46 | - | 110 | 47 | 52 | 5 | 45.19% | List | ||||
| Overall | 1956-1967 | 137 | 13 | 46 | 0 | 131 | 61 | 71 | 5 | 44.53% | List | ||||
Contributions:
Shawn Dollin, Andrew Ferguson, Greg Fiveash, Max Turner, Rugby League Tables, Alan Katzmann, Tony McCarron, Paul Carter, Wests Archives, Michael Borg, Bill Bates
Your Say
03/12/2011
Brian Hambly did not play for Lithgow Workmans club but with rivals Lithgow Shamrocks along with Bruce Pollard.
04/01/2012
brian hambly played for lithgow shamrocks in the late 1960s,he moulded them into the team(group 10) that everyone feared due to their tough tackling,they had the nickname of the bonecrushers for a while,grumpy was a real good bloke who all the kids admired,i know as i was of that era,a time when rugby league had a real life exitement to it,maybe i too have got old
12/09/2014
I played in this team called the bone crushers with grumpy and Bruce Pollard .
03/01/2016
A Souths junior from the famous Mascot club played with the great Clive Churchill and was also coached by him.
Was the publican and part owner of the Appin Hotel (before he passed away) along with his brother in law Ian Davidson who also played lower grades with Souths.
His son Peter Hambly now runs the Appin Hotel.
Brian was natures gentleman
28/06/2020
He played in the Newtown juniors for st peters
18/08/2024
Brian coached St Peter’s and I think they won the comp maybe a grade , we had the. Botany view hotel at the time on corner king and Darley street
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