Mick Madsen

Mick Madsen

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Personal information
Full name	Mads Peter Madsen
Nickname	Mick
Born	1900 Tannymorel, Queensland
Died	2 February 1979
Playing information
Position	Forward
Club
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1921–37	Brothers (Toowoomba)
Representative
Years	Team	Pld	T	G	FG	P
1928–37	Queensland	41				9
1929–36	Australia	9	0	0	0	0
	Toowoomba	52

Mads Peter "Mick" Madsen (1900 – 2 February 1979) was an Australian rugby league player. He was a front-row forward for the Australian national team. He played in nine Tests between 1929 and 1936 as captain on one occasion and has since been named as one of the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Biography

Born in Tannymorel near Warwick, Queensland he attended Toowoomba Grammar School and played rugby league there. He was a seasonal labourer in country Queensland when at age 20 he played in a game against the visiting Toowoomba Brothers club who signed him up. Madsen went on to play his entire first grade career of 17 seasons with the Brothers club. He first represented for Queensland at age 27 and then consistently for the next 9 years making a then record of 34 appearances against New South Wales. He made his Test debut against England in the first Test of the 1929–30 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain. He played in the 2nd Test loss and 17 tour matches before a broken jaw rule him out of further appearances. He played in all three Tests of the 1932 Ashes series in Australia.

Madsen made his 2nd Kangaroo Tour on the 1933–34 tour to Great Britain and played in 25 tour matches and three Tests. He made his sole appearance as captain of the Kangaroos in the 2nd Test at Headingley in November 1933 following injury to tour captain Frank McMillan. Australia lost the game 7–5 in front of a crowd of 30,000 with all of Australia's points scored by the 1930s point scoring sensation Dave Brown.

At thirty-four years of age Madsen was recalled to the 1936 Australian side in the Third Test against England in Sydney. A late call up, Madsen was the first Australian player to fly to a Test match.

His last first grade game was at age thirty-eight. In retirement he remained a notable Toowoomba identity.

Kangaroos 1st Test 1929.

Accolades

In February 2008, Madsen was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In June 2008, he was chosen in the Queensland Rugby League's Team of the Century at prop-forward. In 2008, rugby league in Australia's centenary year, Madsen was named at front row forward in the Toowoomba and South West Team of the Century.

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan (2004) Captaining the Kangaroos, New Holland, Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney
• Queensland Team of the Century named – article at nz.leagueunlimited.com

Preceded by Frank McMillan

Australian national rugby league captain 1933

Succeeded by Dave Brown