Sad loss.

RIP Arthur

Very sad news. I can't remember him playing but my uncles tell me he was good and hard. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/arti ... 1o7vz.html

Very sad news. I can't remember him playing but my uncles tell me he was good and hard. www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/arti ... 1o7vz.html

R.I.P Artie

Showing my age. I remember the game at Craven Park on Christmas Day when he broke his leg. If memory serves me correct it was a tackle by Joe Brown and Jim Macklin. Beetson got up played the ball and then walked off. I'm sure the Rovers sponge man (be wrong to call the physio's in those days) was called Williams and his son went on to play in goal for Scarborough in non league cup finals.
He was a great forward no doubt about that.
Another memory is about 9 years ago I was in the East Leagues club in Sydney which had a large painting of him on the wall behind the bar. When I casually stated to a friend thats Artie Beetson the barman thanked me and said he had always wondered who it was in the painting.

trawlerman physio was johhny williams and yes his son was a goalie think he played a couple of games for city, was also there 1968 as a young kid and arther sure did look the real deal, rip mate

You are correct John Williams was the sponge man for Rovers. On the day Artie broke his leg John wasn'n there and Colin Hutton was acting sponge man. I think D.D.D. was involved in the tackle

A broken leg and badly dislocated ankle, he should of ran it off the pansy

One of the men responsible for giving us the State of Origin.. Sad loss.

I was only a young lad at time but I thought it was Doyle who tackled him, always thought he was a big hard bugger

RIP ARTIE
A true hard man of rugby league.

I was'nt at the game when he broke his leg but ran across him a few weeks later.
I was about seventeen at the time and one of the few pubs me and my mates could get a drink in was King Edward,not far from the old Cecil
if any one can remember it.It had a bar upstairs which was normally quiet and we used to go up there on a weekday.
One night me and a couple of mates went in for a beer and as we went through the door there was this giant of a man with his leg in a pot resting on a stool.How the hell he got up there in the first place beats because the stairs were pretty steep.
Anyhow we had been in there for about 30 minutes and the giant who i had now recognised as Arty Beetson was still there having a few beers with a mate.Four men came in ,mid to late twentys,nearly knocked the stool from under Artys pot and then blamed Arty for being in the way.
Arty kept quiet but the four guys would'nt leave it.
When one of these guys pushed it to far he found a wooded crutch wrapped round his head and when one of his mates came to his aid he got a smack in the mouth from Beetsons fist.
The other two decided to excuse themselves and left sharpish helping their wounded friends down the stairs.
When we left shortly after that fearing that he might be getting warmed up,he said goodnight to us and hoped those "s"had'nt spoiled our night.We did see him in their again and he said hello.Whether he recognised us or not i dont know,but i like to think so.
Thanks for the memory Arthur.

Great story of the big man plateface,thanks for sharing it,a bigger than life character was Artie.

My late dad saw him play and always mentioned him as a "great".

A very true fact...Sad loss...RIP Arty

I had the great pleasure of meeting Artie and Jim Hall on more than 1 occaision, we met him when he had just broke his leg, and yes he was in shorts Hawaian shirt and flip flops, we met him upstairs in King Eddy and had a good afternoon session. He was the opposite of what you would expect of a big hard Ausie forward, he was quietly spoken but always had a wise crack in any conversation, nothing brash about him at all, a very nice man, as was Jim Hall, R.I.P Artie.

Did he have his flat cap on? He usually did. You are right they were great company. RIP Artie

I don't know anything about that incident as I was too young, but as for Jonny Williams, I did know well through family etc. and one night we went to Jonny's for a bit of a get together with me Mam and Dad and who was there also but Arthur Beetson and two/three other of the Aussie Team. They used to put them up in those days when they were on tour. Jonny's wife was going mad about the shopping bill as, I'm sure it was Artie - was getting up in the middle of the night and eating raw steak out of the fridge! He just sat there laughing-he would eat them out of the house apparently!
RIP Artie.

I don't know anything about that incident as I was too young, but as for Jonny Williams, I did know well through family etc. and one night we went to Jonny's for a bit of a get together with me Mam and Dad and who was there also but Arthur Beetson and two/three other of the Aussie Team. They used to put them up in those days when they were on tour. Jonny's wife was going mad about the shopping bill as, I'm sure it was Artie - was getting up in the middle of the night and eating raw steak out of the fridge! He just sat there laughing-he would eat them out of the house apparently!
RIP Artie.

First saw Big Artie play shortly after coming to live in Sydney in 1968. Was Australia's first ball- playing prop forward and the best I have ever seen. I first saw Australia play in Hull in 1948.Met him a couple of times and he was a real humble individual who just loved food. Had a nickname of 'Meat Pie Artie" and before a gala dinner held here in 1973 for the Australian team was said to have eaten 11 hot dogs!

In the Australian league team of the century(1908-2007) he was named at prop forward and became the 7th post war "Immortal" of the Australian game alongside Churchill,Raper,Gasnier, Fulton, Langlands and Wally Lewis. Often regarded by some as Australia's best ever forward he was a recipient of the Medal of the Order of Australia(OAM).

I can recommend his book entitled Big Artie: The Autobiography published in 2004.