Alan Beauchamp at his Gaythorne home
The Beauchamp surname was synonymous with rugby league in Queensland from the late 1960s, until the mid-1980s.
There was Ron, who represented Queensland nine times, and his younger brother, Paul, who played for Brothers and Valleys in Brisbane, and had a season with South Sydney, under legendary coach, Jack Gibson.
And then there was their cousin, Alan, who won a Brisbane premiership with Valleys in 1974, and played alongside Wally Lewis, when ‘The King’ started out at the Diehards.
“Ron was the most talented; Alan was the toughest and I was the best singer,” says self-effacing Paul Beauchamp, who won Rugby League New Faces in 1978, and with it a trip to London and $1,000 spending money, the same year he represented Brisbane against the touring Kiwis.
Paul sang the Cat Stevens’ song, ‘Longer Boats’, wowing the judges, just as he had wowed Brothers’ fans, from the time he made his First Grade debut for the club in 1976, aged 18. Two years later he captained Brothers, becoming the youngest skipper in the club’s history. He had been a ball boy for older brother, Ron’s club games for All Whites in Toowoomba, and then for the inter-city, Bulimba Cup games, which Ron played against Ipswich and Brisbane.
“Ron was my hero,” Paul says. “I just wanted to be like him. He was fearless, and like me, he wasn’t much more than 11 stone (70kg).”
Ron, who worked for two years in the railways in Toowoomba, before joining the police force, made his Toowoomba representative debut in 1968, helping the Clydesdales to a State Championship title. The following year he represented Queensland against New South Wales. He went on to play four more games against the Blues, as well as representing Queensland against New South Wales Country; Monaro Division, Central Queensland and Wide Bay.
In 1970, Toowoomba, coached by former Test centre, Bob Hagan, won the Bulimba Cup and were tagged ‘Hagan’s Heroes’ after their 18-17 win over Brisbane in the final in Toowoomba. That same year, Ron played for Toowoomba against the touring Great Britain side.
“Playing for Toowoomba was my greatest honour in rugby league,” Ron said. “I captained the Clydesdales in 1971 and ’72, and that’s something I’ll never forget.”
After being dropped following his first match against NSW in 1969, Ron made amends when given another chance in 1970, in the first match played under flood lights at Lang Park. Queensland lost 12-3 in a torrid clash, and more than held their own with the star-studded Blues.
“Time after time, Marty Scanlan, Ron Beauchamp, Glen Harrison and Lee Hutchinson broke the New South Wales’ defence, only for the final pass to be dropped,” wrote Jack Reardon in ‘The Courier-Mail’.
Ron and his wife, Ann-Maree moved to Brisbane in 1973, and Ron signed with Brothers, where he played three seasons, although injuries restricted his appearances. In 1977 he coached the Ipswich representative side, succeeding his former Toowoomba, Brothers and Queensland teammate, Wayne Bennett, who went back to Brisbane, to link with Souths Magpies.
Since then, Ron has had no direct involvement with rugby league, other than having followed the fortunes of his brother, Paul and their cousin, Alan, sometimes as a special duties police officer at matches at Lang Park. Ron regards former Test five eighth, Johnny Gleeson, another Darling Downs’ product, as the greatest footballer he has seen, and as a lifelong South Sydney supporter, rates Greg Inglis as one of the best backs in history.
Alan cracked A grade at Valleys in 1973, the year Ron moved to Brisbane. A Cannon Hill Stars’ junior, Alan played under-18s for Brothers, alongside future Test back, Graham Quinn, a teammate at Cannon Hill. But when Brothers showed little interest in Alan, he moved across to Valleys, at the urging of SGIO workmate, Ron Gurnett, a Valleys’ stalwart.
Highlights of the 1973 season for Alan were the Presidents Cup final win over Easts, and a spot on the bench for the grand final win over Redcliffe.
“I was only 19, and I was grateful for the chances (coach) Henry Holloway gave me,” Alan recalls. “I scored a try in the Presidents Cup final, and it should have been two, but the ref said I didn’t get the ball down. It was a great game, with nearly 20,000 there to see the two leading teams after the first round.”
Beauchamp had an off-season stint with New Hunslet, in England, before shaping up for the 1974 BRL season, one in which he cemented his spot on the wing in first grade. But in the week leading up to the Grand Final against Brothers, Beauchamp tore his hamstring.
“Dr Tom Dooley gave me two cortisone injections, to see if that would do the trick, but I was so upset, I just cried,” Beauchamp recalls. “My dad and I both had a cry when I got home. I wore the number 2 jersey on grand final day, but they started with Paul Gayler. ‘H’ (Holloway) had promised he would give me a run, but with 20 minutes to go, there was no sign of a replacement being made. (Secretary) Nev Lesina said to ‘H’, “What about Beach?’ It took about 10 minutes to get Paul (Gayler) off, but at least I got a run.”
Valleys slumped from premiers to wooden spooners in 1975, and then the following year, Alan began the season at Nerang in the Gold Coast competition, playing under the coaching of former State five eighth, Graeme Atherton. Alan represented Gold Coast in the Carlton Cup against Toowoomba, Wide Bay and Ipswich, but, with Atherton’s blessing, returned to Valleys mid-season.
In 1977, Alan played the entire season in first grade, scoring 11 tries, second only to future Test star, John Ribot, and coming under consideration from the State selectors. In an Amco Cup game against Sydney Easts, he had held his own against Test pair, Bob Fulton and Mark Harris.
The 1976 and ’77 seasons saw Paul Beauchamp press his claims as a representative centre at Brothers, particularly after Graham Quinn left for St George in Sydney at the end of 1976. But as things turned out, it was Beauchamp’s new centre partner, Mark Thomas who got the accolades in 1977, playing for Queensland, and then Australia, in the World Series.
“I had been picked to play for Brisbane against France, but dislocated my shoulder in a match against Valleys,” Beauchamp said. “I don’t begrudge Mark’s success, because he played brilliantly that year. In 1978 I played for Brisbane against New Zealand, and I thought it was my best chance of playing for Queensland. But the selectors went for Peter Eastwell and Brad Kennedy. When South Sydney made me an offer, I thought, why not? I found the biggest difference between Brisbane and Sydney football was the fact they were all fit in Sydney.
“I enjoyed my time at Souths. Jack Gibson, Bill Anderson and Ron Massey were all astute men, and I learnt a lot. (Five eighth/centre) Rocky Laurie was the best club footballer I played alongside.”
Souths finished ninth, and while there were offers to remain in Sydney, Paul wanted to return to Brisbane, where he had built a strong client base, as an insurance consultant. Today he is managing director/owner of the Beaulife Group, which has its HQ in Edward Street, Brisbane, and is very much a family concern, with Ron working alongside his younger brother.
Paul re-signed with Brothers in 1980, with Wayne Bennett the new coach. Beauchamp played three years under Bennett, and then moved to Valleys, before returning to Brothers in 1984 for a farewell season, under the coaching of former Test halfback, Tom Raudonikis.
“Work and family were my priorities in the ’80s, and I didn’t really think about football, until training or match day, so I wasn’t mentally or physically prepared to give my best,” Beauchamp said. “As Wayne Bennett would say – football is 90 percent fitness, 10 percent ability.”
Paul jokes that he has been something of a curse for the football clubs he played with, given Brothers and Valleys are no longer part of the top echelon in Queensland, and South Sydney were kicked out of the NRL for two seasons. Even Huyton, the English club where he had a short stint with fellow Queenslander, Peter White and New South Wales bush footballer, Percy Knight, in 1976, have gone to the wall.
Alan’s career was largely in the Queensland Fire Service, with his grandfather a distinguished ‘fireman’ in Toowoomba, and Alan’s brother, Peter an assistant commissioner on the Gold Coast. Alan joined the service at the end of the 1977 Brisbane season, on a football scholarship, which saw him play for Fire Fighters in the Public Service League.
In 1979 he returned to Valleys, and it seemed likely Beauchamp, Vic Wieland and the veteran former State centre, Gerry Fitzpatrick would fight it out for the centre spots.
“But then ‘Choppy’ (Chris Close) turned up,” Beauchamp recalls. “Me and him were centres in reserve grade in the pre-season, and then early in the premiership rounds Gerry Fitzpatrick announced his retirement.
“‘Struddy’ (Coach, Ross Strudwick) pulled me and ‘Choppy’ aside and said: ‘One of you has to go up, and I think Alan is the man, because he has played 75 first grade games. ‘Choppy’ said. “Right. I’m going back to Cunnamulla. So, ‘Struddy’ changed his mind and promoted Chris. We went on to win the Grand Final that year, with ‘Choppy’ and Vic Wieland in the centres, and me on the bench.”
Beauchamp played 15 more first grade games, before pulling the pin mid-way through the 1981 season, after nearly 200 games for the club.
“My last game was against Easts at Neumann Oval (now Allan Border Field) and my great mate, the late (Ian) ‘Elke’ Sommer threw me a hospital pass, but I managed to get the ball away to Wally Lewis as I was creamed, and Wally ran away to score. I was still on the ground when Wally came up to me and said what a great pass it was. I thought, ‘That’s it. I’ve set up one of the greatest players in the game for a try. I don’t think things are going to get any better than that, so that will do me.
“I would have liked to have got my 100 (first grade) games, but I had joined the Pine Rivers Auxiliary Fire Service, and wanted to get back in the Fire Service full time, although I was told that wouldn’t happen, because of the fact I quit in 1978. But by 1984 I was back fulltime, and I stayed there until I retired in 2013.”
Alan and Paul clashed a number of times in first grade in Brisbane, and in one match almost came to blows during an all-in-brawl, before thinking better of it. Paul played against the likes of Steve Rogers and Ted Goodwin in Sydney, and Gene Miles and Chris Close in Brisbane, but rates Mal Meninga his toughest opponent.
The Beauchamps are great family men. Ron is the eldest of eight kids, five of them boys, and he and Paul each have six children, with Ron having 16 grand kids and Paul 10.
Alan has four children, and two grandchildren, with one daughter, Emma following in his footsteps in the fire service, while the other daughter, Michelle’s husband is a fireman. Alan’s sons, Brett and Luke excelled at rugby union at Ashgrove Marists. Younger brother, Luke represented Australian under-19s against England, and in recent years has been playing in the United States.
Alan’s brother, Peter is a stalwart of the Kirra SLSC on the Gold Coast, a club which has boasted the likes of former league internationals, Johnny Lang and Rod Morris as members. Alan is a fine lawn bowler, currently a member of the Enoggera Club.
None of the Beauchamp boys have any great regrets, although Paul still can’t fathom how he didn’t win Rugby League New Faces two years in a row, after he sang a beautiful version of the ‘Bread’ hit, ‘If’, in 1979.
“They gave it to Barry Wood from Newtown for some pie-in-the face slapstick skit,” Beauchamp says, tongue in cheek.
Footnote: This is the full text of a story I submitted to the Family of League Foundation magazine in 2021.
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