Australian rugby league legend Arthur Beetson passes away
The rugby league legend, Arthur Beetson’s death was confirmed on Thursday, December 1, who passed away after suffering a heart attack at the age of 66.
The Australian legend is paralleled alongside the greats in sports including, Clive Churchill, Bob Fulton, Reg Gasnier, Johnny Raper, Graeme Langlands and Wally Lewis.
The rugby league immortal was the first indigenous captain of Australia in any sport who also had led Queensland in the first State of Origin match in 1980.
Ross Livermore, the managing director of Queensland Rugby League for 30 years said this morning that Beetson had something about him which was out of ordinary.
Beetson’s teammate in the inaugural Maroons team Mal Meninga, who currently coaches Sate of Origins team, was shocked when the news of his death was broken to him.
While recalling his early years in rugby league, Meninga said, “I hold him dear to my heart, especially in my early years, he was very influential for my growth as a man. He was one of the people I admire greatly, not only for his footy, what he did on the
park, but what he did as a human being for his people and for business people as well.”
He branded this untimely loss in the world of rugby league as the tragedy. Meninga acknowledged that Beetson had played a huge role in shaping his career the way it is at the moment. He had worked on changing Meninga’s perception on being an indigenous footballer.
Meninga stressed upon the important role late-rugby league legend had played in making him proud of his heritage, which comes foremost for him.
Beetson is also well known in the younger generation. Sharing his views about the rugby league immortal, Queensland half-back, Johnathan Thurston, said, “Artie was an inspiration to all indigenous rugby league players, including myself, and will always be
remembered as one of the greats of the game.”
He believed that the player c*m coach is one of the very few players who had done a lot for Queensland Rugby League.
Beetson was also supposed to lead the children to the Dreamworld as part of a FOGS [Queensland Former Origin Greats] programme which is also tagged as the Artie Programme - Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education, in his honour.
However, Artie Programme will suffer heavily without Beetson being part of it.
Commenting about it, his colleague at FOG, Gene Miles said, “Today was the day we celebrate with the kids who achieved their goals, so we are down at White Water World at Dreamworld with 400 indigenous kids.”
The news was a shocking one for Miles too, who was expecting Beetson by ten.
The news of Beetson’s death has shaken the world of rugby league, because there are very few who can parallel him in his accomplishments, but the legend has inspired so many rugby league talents until now.
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