Vale John McDonald

The Queensland Rugby League has paid tribute to rugby league icon and highly respected community leader John McDonald, who passed away peacefully in Toowoomba yesterday.

Affectionately known as 'Cracker', McDonald made an immense contribution to the game as a player, coach and administrator.  

But above all, he was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather and cherished member of the community.

“John was quite simply a remarkable individual who touched the lives of so many people around him,” QRL chairman Bruce Hatcher said today.

“His achievements within the game are unrivalled. Not only did he play and coach at elite level, but he dedicated many years to rugby league administration, from the grassroots to the international game.

“The QRL expresses its deepest sympathy to his family, friends and all in the rugby league community, who are deeply saddened by his passing.”

McDonald made 10 interstate appearances for Queensland and played 13 Tests for Australia, before taking up coaching.

In 1980, he guided the Queensland Maroons to a historic win in the inaugural State of Origin match at Lang Park.

McDonald was equally adept in rugby league administration, fulfilling numerous roles and responsibilities at local, state, national and international levels.

Between 1992 and 2012, McDonald was the chairman of the QRL, an organisation he was fiercely proud to lead given his strong ties to grassroots rugby league in his home city of Toowoomba.

After nearly 50 years of service to the game, McDonald was awarded Life Membership of the QRL in 2007.

A charismatic leader, McDonald was also an Australian Rugby League chairman, International Federation boss and long-serving chairman of the Toowoomba Rugby League.

McDonald attended school in Toowoomba, where a classmate was Ross Livermore, who went on to become QRL managing director.

“The McDonald / Livermore partnership was arguably the most successful in Queensland sports administrative history,” said QRL History Committee chairman and former The Courier-Mail journalist Steve Ricketts.

“No other former international, in the history of the code, has made such an enormous administrative contribution.”

A devoted family man, McDonald and his wife Joan raised six children.

Joan has worked tirelessly in recent years as a volunteer with the Family of League Foundation, in which John was an 'Honouree' of the Foundation (formerly Men of League).

John Norman 'Cracker' McDonald AM

Administrative career

• Served as QRL chairman (1992-2012)
• Awarded life membership of the QRL in 2007 after nearly 50 years of service to the game
• Inaugural NRL Executive Committee member (1998)
• Australian Rugby League chairman (1998-99). Was the first Queenslander to hold the position outright. Ron McAuliffe had previously occupied the chair in an interim capacity. McDonald succeeded his close friend Ken Arthurson in the post
• Australian Rugby League deputy director
• Former International Federation chairman
• Long-serving chairman, Toowoomba Rugby League
• Queensland Sports Administrator of the Year (1998)

Coaching career

• Queensland coach for the inaugural State of Origin match in 1980. With Arthur Beetson the skipper, Queensland beat New South Wales 20-10
• Prior to that, McDonald had coached Toowoomba, Queensland Country and Queensland, under the residential rules
• In 1978 he coached Queensland Country to a memorable win over City at Lang Park. Future Test winger Kerry Boustead was the 'find' of that Country side
• In 1979 he coached Country to the semi-finals of the prestigious national Amco Cup knock-out competition, beating Sydney clubs Newtown, Norths and Parramatta along the way

Playing career

• 13 Tests for Australia (1966-1970). Toured Britain and France with the Kangaroos in 1967-68, and New Zealand with the Australian side in 1969
• 7 Tests v Great Britain; 4 Tests v New Zealand; 2 Tests v France. A goal kicking centre / winger. In one Test against the Kiwis, at Brisbane's Lang Park, he scored 18 points from two tries and six goals
• Captained Australia against Auckland at Carlaw Park in 1969
• Represented Queensland 10 times between 1965 and 1968. Nine matches against NSW and one against Great Britain
• Clubs: Valleys Toowoomba 1960-68, Manly-Warringah 1969-71. McDonald captained Manly at different stages, most notably in the 1970 grand final against South Sydney, the match in which Souths' skipper, John Sattler played with a broken jaw
• Represented Toowoomba in the prestigious Bulimba Cup inter-city competition, hitting the headlines as a 19-year-old in 1964
•  Named centre in the Toowoomba and South West Team of the Century

Other honours / achievements

• Queensland Sports Hall of Fame inductee (2016)
• Former chairman of the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland
• Chairman Toowoomba Sports Ground Inc
• Chairman and director of Crushers Leagues Club, Brisbane
• Managing Director Cracker Print and Paper Pty Ltd
• Queensland Cup, currently Hostplus Cup, minor premiers receive the John 'Cracker' McDonald Shield
• McDonald was a world class professional sprinter. He held a number of records, including a world record for the 440 yards

Historical information provided by Steve Ricketts, QRL History Committee

Main image: Rob Moore with John McDonald at the Queensland Sports Awards.