Steve Merrick: the last amateur to play international rugby union

When the world of amateur rugby union was overturned by the vote of the International Board for the game immediately to go professional in the summer of 1995, almost all players competing at the highest level chose to become at the least semi-professional if not fully professional paid players from the beginning of the 1995/96 season.

There was one player whose actions stood out that summer. Steven Paul Merrick was born in Singleton, New South Wales on 22 December 1968 and went to school locally at Singleton High School. He played rugby league until the age of eighteen but, inspired by his brother Dale, moved over to rugby union and started playing for the local Hunter Valley side.

There were two test matches scheduled to be played after the Wallabies had returned from the World Cup in South Africa. George Gregan was the incumbent scrum half and Pete Slattery was his regular reserve so, although Steve Merrick knew he was being considered, he did not expect to be picked for the first of the two tests. He discovered he had been selected over Gregan at Sydney Airport on his return from the Queensland match. Seven days later on Saturday 22 July he made his test debut at the All Blacks fortress, Eden Park in Auckland. A great deal had happened for him in just over three weeks since he had made his debut for the Waratahs against Otago.

Steve Merrick played throughout both matches without being substituted and clearly was a serious contender for a scrum half position in the Wallaby professional squad. Although he had returned to his job in the coal mine in Singleton, the Australia Rugby Union invited Steve and his wife to Sydney to offer him a contract as a professional rugby player. The money offered was substantial, and generous compared with his existing salary at the coal mine, but there were three conditions that proved insurmountable - he must move to Sydney, play for the New South Wales Waratahs and give up bush rugby.

Steve Merrick did not wish to leave his home town and move to Sydney and he wanted to continue playing his rugby with his old school friends. His family had lived in the area for many years and the lure of his roots proved decisive. He did not take up a contract to play professional rugby and he remained as a scrum half who played more than 300 matches for the Singleton Bulls until he retired in 2007 and who experienced a magical month with the Waratahs and the Wallabies in the summer of 1995.

In his thoughtful article on the career of Steve Merrick published in the Guardian Australia in 2015, Patrick Skene summed up his unique contribution:

"It is the sweetest irony that after 100 years of amateurism, a working class coalminer with a rugby league background was the last man standing upholding rugby union's amateur tradition."

Sources:

• Ford Rugby '96 (Annual) - Greg Thomas & Col Whelan (Reed Books Australia 1996)
• The forgotten story of … Steve Merrick, rugby unions' last amateur - Patrick Skene (The Guardian Australia, August 2015)
• Men in Black - Chester, McMillan & Palenski (Hodder Moa Beckett 2000)
• They played rugby for Australia - Eric Lemon & Teejay Haar (Amazon 2023)
• World Rugby Museum scrapbooks and spreadsheets 1871-2025 (compiler: Richard Steele)