Obituary: Frank McMullen

By DJ CAMERON

All Black, referee. Died aged 71.

Rugby lost one of its great gentlemen when Frank McMullen died after a long illness last week. Great because his was a wonderful threequarter talent, welded to a pleasantly humble attitude to life and sport.

He had an amiable aw-shucks attitude to life and to his own outstanding ability as a player, and then international referee, of rugby. He would modestly measure his background from Seddon Memorial Technical College as not at the same level as the fancier schools of his team-mates. And acknowledge that he first learned his brilliant side-stepping and dodging arts as a Richmond rugby league nipper, before moving to rugby with Eden and the Otahuhu clubs.

Frank revelled in his marvellous midfield friendship with his Otahuhu mate, Teddy Edwards - two hardcase, working-class types who led Otahuhu to their first taste of Gallaher Shield glory in 1956. Frank was also player-coach in the middle of Otahuhu's shield hat-trick in 1959-61.

Excellent form for Auckland took McMullen with his Auckland teammate, second five Terry Lineen, into the All Blacks in 1957. They were a formidable combination.

Frank McMullen went to the edge of legendary fame during the 1960 All Black tour of South Africa.

He missed the first test, won by the Springboks 13-0, but had a wing position in the second, which the All Blacks won 11-3.

Down 3-11 in the third test at Bloemfontein, the All Blacks got to 6-11 with a long-range Don Clarke penalty goal, and then launched a late attack which had Kevin Laidlaw lofting a high punt toward the corner flag.

The ball bounced wickedly for the Springbok defence, and seemed to hang high in the air as McMullen raced after it.

McMullen was sometimes dodgy with his handling, but this time he soared up, took the ball in two hands, scored in the corner, and DB coolly added the conversion for the 11-all draw.

The All Blacks were down 3-8 in the fourth test when McMullen shot through from broken play, the goal-line apparently at his mercy. Keith Oxlee's despairing dive-tackle just clipped McMullen's ankle. He stumbled, fell, lifted himself and scrambled over the goal-line.

All New Zealand, and at least half the rugby world, called it a try, as McMullen had not been held in the tackle, and was entitled to wobble his untouched way over the line.

The one man who mattered, referee Ralph Burmeister, ruled that McMullen had rabbited over the line, and gave a penalty to South Africa.

The Springboks closed down the test at 8-3, took the series 2-1 with a draw - and McMullen was denied the fame which would have belonged to an All Black whose two brilliant solo tries had given New Zealand its first test-rubber win in South Africa.

That was the end of Frank McMullen, All Black, and the birth of Frank McMullen, rugby referee, who after rapid progress through the ranks controlled a clutch of matches involving international teams in New Zealand, leading to the New Zealand-England test at Eden Park in 1973.

McMullen was thus in an exclusive club of New Zealanders who have played and refereed test rugby - already comprising George Nicholson, Jimmy Hunter and Eric Tindill.

With so much high-level experience, McMullen won acclaim as a players' referee who understood the inner workings of the game.

McMullen later turned to running marathons, aiming for practical health insurance against a heart problem.

Greatness, as conqueror of the Springboks, just eluded Raymond Frank McMullen - which never seemed to worry him one little bit.

He would have treasured far more the fact that in Thursday's memorial service at Eden Park Wilson Whineray would have offered a sincere, charming tribute to McMullen the rugby man.

Wilson Whineray, Waka Nathan, John Graham and Rocky Patterson all spoke in tribute to McMullen - the old mates' farewell.

Frank McMullen is survived by children Johnnie and Linzi and grandchildren.