Playing for his country

As well as playing for the Australian Deaf Wallaby team, he has also played at high levels of his sport, as we would put it, against “able bodied people”.

That included playing for NSW Country against the touring Scottish team (1992) as well as sitting on the bench for when Country played Italy here in the Shoalhaven (1994).

And there were no half measures, he was in the engine room, playing in the front row.

Along the way there were numerous representative matches for Illawarra including winning the Country week title in 1992, and representing Southern Province and Country.

“Back then there wasn’t really any deaf rugby teams, or I didn’t know about them,” he said.

“I finished my schooling at Scots in Bathurst and we toured Europe and really got to love the game and from there it all just grew.

“I never dreamed it would lead to me playing for my country.”

But it is something he achieved playing a number of games in the green and gold including against the touring South Africans with the Australian deaf team in 1994, the same year he played in the first grade grand final with Shoals.

Matches against arch rivals New Zealand followed and in 2002 the Aussie team played the curtain raiser to the big Bledisloe Cup clash also against the Kiwis, while he was also a member of the Australian team that contested the Deaf World Cup in New Zealand the same year.

A proud Shoalhaven boy, he played 249 first grade games for Shoals in his 331 game club career.

Since finishing school he has completed his dairy trade, where he was named the NSW Dairy Apprentice of the Year and has worked on the family dairy farm at Numbaa.

Chris and wife Genevieve have three children; Elizabeth, 7, Alfred, 6 and Walter, 1.