Referee Career
Vital Statistics
- Nickname(s)
- Sparkles
- Born
- Sunday, 17th May, 1964
- Current Age
- 59 years and 343 days
- Place Of Birth
- Cronulla, New South Wales, Australia
Biography
Cronulla junior formed a lethal partnership in the centres with Andrew Ettingshausen before moving to Penrith in 1993. 'Sparkles' McGaw was clearly set for stardom when he played a blinder on debut against three-times premiers P’matta in 1984. He played against the 1986 Kangaroos while guesting with Ettingshausen at Leeds and the pair made their NSW debut the following year. McGaw scored the winning try on the bell in the first State of Origin match of the series in 1988 and made his Test debut against the Rest of the World that year. Test appearances against France and NZ followed in 1990 and he was selected to tour with the Kangaroos. In a fantastic individual effort McGaw's blockbusting try was the highlight of Australia's First Test loss at Wembley but, in the following match, he suffered a medial ligament injury that ended his tour. McGaw’s recovery was slow and although used as a replacement on the Australian tour of Papua New Guinea (one match) the ensuing years did not see him at his best. McGaw's move to Penrith was seen as his chance to play at a competitive club and restart his flagging representative career but it turned out to be a personal and professional disaster. McGaw seemed to lose all confidence and asked for a release from his contract after just one season. 1994 saw him with battlers Souths and although there were glimpses of his old magic his final two seasons in the game were again affected by injury and suspension. McGaw retired in 1996 and pursued a career as a male model as well as appearing in the short-lived ‘Gladiators’ TV program.
- ALAN WHITICKER
Additional Notes
Junior Club: Engadine Dragons
Referee 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.
Contributions:
Rugby League Tables, Shawn Dollin, AJ Lucantonio, Paul Carter, Greg Fiveash, Andrew Ferguson, Alan Katzmann, Max Turner, Steven Russo, Bill Bates
Sources:
ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1996, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1989-90, Match Video, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1988-89, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1990-91, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1991-92, Newspapers, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1992-93, NSWRL Rugby League Yearbook 1994, ARL Rugby League Yearbook 1995, Irvin Saxton's Record Keepers' Club, Rothmans Rugby League Yearbook 1987-88
Your Say
16/01/2024
Currently on the tv show Gladiators as a referee. If you're old enough you might have seen him on the 1990s run of the show as one of the gladiators (Hammer). I wish they'd used his rugby league nickname XD
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