John ‘Johnno’ Johnson (1940-1983)

John ‘Johnno’ Johnson, legendary Australian Rugby League player and coach, was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, on 1 April 1940. His father Robert was Scottish, and had once played as a defender for Glasgow Rangers soccer club, earning himself the nickname of ‘Nutter’ for his skill at heading the ball, and the noses of opposition players. Johnson was a violent, racist drunk and womaniser who terrorised his wife and son. He often kept Johnno from school, making him stand between the homemade goalposts in their back garden while he hit soccer balls at him as hard as he could. By the time Johnno was 15 he was an exceptionally skilled goalkeeper, but he hated soccer, and took to playing rugby league in a nearby park with his friends. It was here, one Sunday in the summer of 1956, he was discovered by Alexander Wallace, the coach of Newcastle’s Rugby League club, the Larrikins.

Wallace immediately saw the boy’s potential and invited him, over Robert Johnson’s strenuous objections, to join the Larrikins’ under-16s team. When Johnno ran away from home after a particularly brutal beating, Wallace took the boy in, and Johnno stayed in his spare bedroom for the next three years. Johnno made his professional debut in March 1957, as fullback against the West Sydney Drongos. Wallace’s confidence in the young player was fully justified; Johnno scored two tries and contributed three try assists. The next morning, the sports pages of every newspaper praised his astonishing skill, grace and speed. Over the next dozen games, Johnno scored a record-breaking 48 tries, the most famous against the South Sydney Serpents, when he played the last 20 minutes with a broken left arm. Johnno’s injury kept him on the bench for the rest of the season, but by the next he returned as captain to lead the Larrikins to the first of five consecutive premiership titles.