RIP Stan Pilecki

[Ken Gargett]

won't be a name familiar to many on this forum - in fact, it will only be rugby fans and those who have been around for a while.

stan pilecki was one of the great characters of rugby, indeed sport, in australia.

i never met him (shame rob is away as he played against him). i did see him play many many times at club, state and test level (was well in his 30s before he finally cracked the test team - typical bloody southern selectors), including several bledisloe winning teams. a tall front rower, never the most talented or fittest bloke on the field. first bloke ever to play 100 games for Qld (or indeed, first bloke ever to play 100 games for any state). the sort of bloke that made rugby what it was back in the glory days.

born in a refugee camp in germany shortly after the war. always gave 100% and every story i ever heard would have him hard as nails on the field and the first to put a beer in your hand after the game. i remember when qld played wales, stan going toe to toe with several welsh forwards, punches flying. you can bet the moment they stepped off field, best mates.

a measure of the respect in which he is held is that the annual medal awarded to the best player in Queensland is the Stan Pilecki medal.

not known for fitness, he was spotted half way through a cigarette when on the bench for the wallabies for one game (tv would never have suited stan). apparently the starting prop had been injured so the cameras swung onto the bloke replacing him. stan! mid fag! and there are many great lines attributed to him. “anyone can have an off decade”!!

alan jones, who might sprout endless rubbish these days but was one of our most successful wallaby coaches, wrote about dealing with stan when he was playing for the wallabies -

“Exercise removes fat, Stanley,”

to which Stan responded, to his coach. "Yeah. You’re living proof ... no double chin.”

RIP.