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Ben Alexander (rugby league)

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For other people named Ben Alexander, see Ben Alexander (disambiguation).

Ben 'Boods' Alexander
Personal information
Full nameBen Alexander
Born(1971-09-13)13 September 1971
Penrith, New South Wales, Australia
Died21 June 1992(1992-06-21) (aged 20)
Colyton, New South Wales, Australia
Playing information
PositionHalfback, Hooker
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
1990–92 Penrith Panthers 36 7 3 1 35
Source: [1][2]
EducationSt Dominic's College, Penrith
RelativesGreg Alexander (brother)
Mark Geyer (brother-in-law)
Matt Geyer (brother-in-law)
Peter Shiels (brother-in-law)

Ben Alexander (13 September 1971 – 21 June 1992), also known by the nickname "Boods", was an Australian rugby league footballer who played as a halfback or hooker for the Penrith Panthers in the New South Wales Rugby League premiership. He was the younger brother of his Penrith teammate Greg Alexander.

Early life

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Alexander attended St Dominic's College, Penrith.[3]

Playing career

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Alexander made his first grade debut against the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks on 12 May 1990, coming off the interchange bench. He made his starting debut at halfback against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs the following week.[4]

Alexander was an unused reserve for Penrith's 1991 Grand Final win over the Canberra Raiders.

Following the retirement of club veteran Royce Simmons at the end of the 1991 season, new recruit Brett Boyd was selected in the starting hooker position over Alexander to begin 1992.[5] An injury crisis at the club (including to Boyd) allowed Alexander to remain in the starting line-up (playing at either halfback or hooker) until the week prior to his death.[5] On 21 June 1992, Alexander played for Penrith in a reserve grade match against Eastern Suburbs, having been reportedly dropped from the first grade team for disciplinary reasons.[5]

Death

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At approximately 10:10 pm on 21 June 1992, Alexander, aged 20, was killed in a car crash in Colyton, a suburb in Western Sydney.[3] Earlier that evening, the Panthers' players had been presented with blazers commemorating their 1991 success. The crash occurred shortly after Alexander left the function with teammates Scott Murray, Luke Goodwin, and Glen Liddiard to attend a nightclub in Mount Druitt.[5]

It was reported that Alexander, who was driving, was not wearing a seatbelt when he drove through a red light and hit another vehicle, losing control of his own vehicle and crashing into a telegraph pole.[6][5] Murray was injured in the crash (suffering a broken leg by one account,[7] and a broken jaw by another).[6] Although early reports claimed that Alexander had not been drinking that evening,[6] it was later confirmed by the coroner that his blood alcohol content was 0.148, which is almost three times the legal limit of 0.05.[8] Rumours that Alexander had been stopped by police shortly before the crash were denied.[9]

Funeral

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A Requiem was held at St Nicholas of Myra Catholic Church in Penrith, with nearly 700 people in attendance inside the church and an estimated 4,000 people outside listening via loudspeaker.[10] He was buried in Penrith Cemetery in Kingswood.[7]

Impact

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Despite Penrith's premiership success the previous year, there was reportedly significant discontent within the playing group during the 1992 season. Head coach Phil Gould's perceived disfavouring of Alexander was said to have been a factor.[5] Alexander's death, along with other internal conflicts, is said to have destroyed the promise of continued success for the club in this period.[11]

The remainder of Penrith's 1992 season was disrupted as several players took extended periods of leave from training and playing duties. Brad Fittler withdrew from the Australian representative squad to play Great Britain on 26 June 1992,[12] while Mark Geyer (whose then fiancée, now wife is Alexander's sister Meagan) refused to train despite being issued an ultimatum, and left the club on 4 July amid other off-field issues.[13][11] Greg Alexander, Liddiard, and Brook Kennedy were granted leave for an impromptu trip to Greece in July, which Geyer also attended.[14] Liddiard was reportedly pushed out of the club for unspecified reasons after missing training sessions.[14] Greg Alexander, who had been sidelined with a knee injury since April of that year,[15][16] returned to the field on 2 August, playing off the interchange bench against the Manly Warringah Sea Eagles.[17] Greg subsequently joined the Auckland Warriors for two seasons in 1995 as a way of dealing with his grief.[18][19] He and Geyer both returned to Penrith in 1997 and 1998, respectively.[11]

Greg has admitted that after his brother's death, "I was never the same player."[20] Gould told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2020, "It's hard to talk about those days because we went from the highs to the lows very quickly. We won the club's first ever premiership then lost a special person in tragic circumstances the very next year. We were never the same people again."[21] Liddiard told The Western Weekender in 2020 that he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder following the crash.[22]

In the 2010s and 2020s, Greg Alexander and Brad Fittler appeared in several road safety awareness campaigns reflecting on how Alexander's death impacted them.[23][24][25]

The Penrith Panthers' rookie of the year award is named for Alexander.[10]

References

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  1. ^ Rugby League Project
  2. ^ Yesterday's Hero
  3. ^ a b Allison, Col (23 June 1992). "Fans, friends and players grieve for Ben". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  4. ^ Williams, Daniel; Macdonald, John (16 May 1990). "'All clear' verdict for relieved Lamb". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank. Gould has chosen halfback Ben Alexander, 18, to make his first grade debut in Sunday's Winfield Cup match of the round against Canterbury at Penrith Park. ... The younger Alexander has just 10 minutes' top-grade experience, against Cronulla in last Saturday's 30-14 loss, and also just a handful of reserve-grade games.
  5. ^ a b c d e f Masters, Roy (12 September 1992). "The Return of the Chocolate Soldiers". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 March 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ a b c "Alexander 'ran red light'". The Canberra Times. 23 June 1992. Retrieved 29 March 2024 – via Trove.
  7. ^ a b Allison, Col (26 June 1992). "Penrith weeps for a kid called Bood". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1.
  8. ^ Allison, Col (9 July 1992). "Death of innocence: The truth about Ben's crash". The Sydney Morning Herald. p. 1. In an unusual step, the Westmead Coroner, Mr John Hiatt, released details yesterday of the post-mortem examination on the 20-year-old Penrith rugby league player. It showed that he had a blood alcohol reading of 0.148 – nearly three times the legal limit of 0.05 – when his Honda collided with another car and then hit a power pole in Colyton on the night of June 21. ... Explaining why he was releasing the details, Mr Hiatt said: "There has been much publicity given to the circumstances of his death, including reports that alcohol was not a factor. Such reports remain uncontradicted.
  9. ^ Macey, Richard (3 December 1992). "Alexander crash: stories unfounded". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  10. ^ a b Dodds, Troy (21 June 2023). "31 years since Panthers lost Ben". The Western Weekender. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  11. ^ a b c Jeffery, Nicole (4 October 2003). "Panthers a 'joke', now for punchline". The Australian – via NewsBank. In 1992, the Panthers, who had given Sydney's western working-class neighbour Penrith an identity, seemed on the verge of a dynasty. The 1991 title had been built around a nucleus of outstanding young local players, led by star halfback Greg Alexander, forward Mark Geyer and brilliant teenager Brad Fittler. But that bright future was changed on a winter's night in June at a notorious intersection, when Penrith's 21-year-old hooker Ben Alexander was killed in a car accident. ... It was a tragedy for his family, but it also became a continuing catastrophe for the Panthers. ... The cracks were there already. Geyer had just served a 10-week suspension after returning a positive drug test for cannabis. Stories of hard drinking and drug-taking among the Panthers players had circulated widely in the close-knit rugby league community. A rift had developed between the Alexander clique and coach Phil Gould over selection.
  12. ^ Williams, Daniel (27 June 1992). "Tigers won't risk Sironen for Steelers". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  13. ^ Masters, Roy (6 July 1992). "Panthers face crisis as Geyer walks out". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  14. ^ a b Sarno, Tony (16 July 1992). "Alexander and friends flee strife". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  15. ^ Sarno, Tony (15 July 1992). "Alexander to play in three weeks: Geyer". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank. [Greg] Alexander, Penrith's most potent attacking player and team captain, has not played for the Panthers since round five of the premiership. Although it was a knee injury that originally forced him out, his comeback has been on hold since his brother was killed in a car accident a month ago.
  16. ^ Williams, Daniel (30 July 1992). "Alexander on way back to boost Penrith". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank.
  17. ^ Macdonald, John (3 August 1992). "'Superhuman' Toovey blitz sinks Panthers". The Sydney Morning Herald – via NewsBank. The Toovey extravaganza upstaged the return of Penrith's Greg Alexander, who had 10-minute runarounds in both halves to get the feel of football again.
  18. ^ Prichard, Greg (21 August 1994). "Brandy: I'm leaving for my sanity". The Sun-Herald – via NewsBank.
  19. ^ Glover, Ben (30 June 2016). "Greg Alexander opens up on the tragic death of his brother Ben for On the Couch with Sterlo". Fox Sports (Australia). Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  20. ^ Webster, Andrew (29 January 2006). "Mourning Mat's biggest battle". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 3 February 2006.
  21. ^ Webster, Andrew (1 February 2020). "'Matter of life and death': How professional athletes deal with grief". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  22. ^ Jonathan Robinson-Lees (16 July 2020). "Passion & Perspective: Episode 14 - Glen Liddiard" (Podcast). Western Weekender. Event occurs at 32:12. Retrieved 31 March 2024 – via SoundCloud.
  23. ^ Pengilly, Adam (29 May 2019). "'I can't watch it': emotional Blues front road safety campaign". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  24. ^ Rayson, Zac (30 May 2019). "Fittler can't watch road safety ad about 'best mate' Ben Alexander". Fox Sports. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
  25. ^ "Fittler launches "Building the Blues" road safety campaign". New South Wales Rugby League. 5 July 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2024.
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