Olympic medal record | ||
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Men's Rugby union | ||
1908 London | Team competition |
Full name | Christopher Hobart McKivat | ||||||||||||
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Nickname | The Boy from the Bush | ||||||||||||
Date of birth | 27 November 1879 | ||||||||||||
Place of birth | Cumnock, New South Wales | ||||||||||||
Date of death | 4 May 1941 | (aged 61)||||||||||||
Place of death | Camperdown, New South Wales | ||||||||||||
Height | 175 cm (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||
Weight | 76 kg (168 lb) | ||||||||||||
Rugby league career | |||||||||||||
Position | Halfback | ||||||||||||
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Teams coached | |||||||||||||
1915–20 1920–22 1928 |
Glebe Dirty Reds North Sydney Bears Western Suburbs Magpies |
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Rugby union career | |||||||||||||
Playing career | |||||||||||||
Position | fly-half Five-eighth & halfback | ||||||||||||
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Professional clubs | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1910–14 | Glebe Dirty Reds | 54 | (15) |
State Representation | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1910–12 | New South Wales | 13 | (15) |
National teams | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1910–12 | Australia | 5 | (12) |
Teams coached | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1910–12 | Australia | 5 | (12) |
Amateur clubs | |||
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Years | Club / team | ||
1895–1900 1900–05 1905 |
Bowen Brothers Wellington Glebe Rugby Union |
Provincial/State sides | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1903–04 1905-1909 |
Central Western New South Wales |
? 16 |
National team(s) | |||
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Years | Club / team | Apps | (points) |
1907–09 | Wallabies | 4 | (0) |
Christopher Hobart McKivat (alternatively spelled McKivatt) (27 November 1879 – 4 May 1941) was an Australian rugby union and rugby league player – a dual-code rugby international. He represented the Wallabies in over 20 Tests and tour matches from 1907 to 1909 and the Kangaroos in 5 Tests from 1910 to 1912. He is unique in Australian rugby history as the only man to captain both the national rugby union and rugby league teams. Following his playing career he became the most successful coach of the North Sydney Bears in the club's history.
He captained the 1908 Summer Olympics gold medal winning Wallaby side and was the eighth captain of the Australian national rugby league team leading them in all 3 Tests of the 1911–12 tour. Thus he captained his country to victory on tour in two different rugby codes.
He was born in Cumnock, New South Wales and educated by the Patrician Brothers in Orange. He played country rugby union with the "Our Boys" club in Wellington and was regularly selected in country representative teams until he was 26. He was a tactically brilliant half-back and a great on-field leader of both forwards and backs.
Affectionately known as the "hairy bloke", he moved to Sydney to join the Glebe Rugby Club in 1905 and played five-eighth for four seasons outside Fred Wood who would later be vice-captain of the 1908–09 Wallabies. McKivat was selected for New South Wales in 1905 to represent against the visiting All Blacks and then for the Wallabies in 1907 playing three Tests against the All Blacks. He was on the first Wallaby tour of the United Kingdom in 1908–09 and captained the side in 17 tour matches including the historic gold medal winning match against Cornwall representing England in the 1908 London Olympics.