I had the opportunity to work with Mark Ella at the 2011 RWC. I asked him why he had retired from the game at only 25 after captaining Australia to a Grand slam and scoring a try in every test. He replied if he had known that the RWC was going to happen 3 years later he would have stuck around. He told me that he simply couldn't afford to continue to play the game as it was amateur at that time.I believe like many players he played in Italy for a while as you could get under the table payments. Australian rugby needs to take responsibility for not being able to look after one of its greatest ever players and allowing him to leave the great game.

Gus Gould interviewed the King Wally Lewis and asked who is the most gifted and dangerous player he has ever seen across both codes. Without thinking or flinching for half a second…..Mark Ella. Game, set and match.

@dirttrackdemons5396

10 ай бұрын

he's bang on there.

Ozzie rugby was just sublime in the 80s. Being half welsh I was spoiled in the 70s, but being also half English I spent the 80s in a suicidal state. I also had to stop playing very early due injury. Only this stuff saved my rugby life.

I got into watching rugby in 1984 when australia toured Britain and Ireland,Mark Ella was the name on everyone's lips,I was 16 at the time and never even held a rugby ball because I'm from a gaelic football background but I remember been in the local football pitch with my friends and we all thought we were Mark Ella even though we were playing with a round ball but that was the influence he had on us,it was also the first time David Campese and Michael Lynagh and Nick Farr- Jones played here,a truly brilliant Australian team and I've been a fan of aussie rugby ever since and also there league team,Australia have produced naturally gifted players over the years more so I think than any other country,greetings from Ireland 🇮🇪.

I got up at I believe 4am with dad to watch the wallabies with Mr Ella. It was 1984ish and I was 10 years old. Good times.

Growing up in New Zealand I had no shortage of Athletes that inspired me to play the best I could. Although not a fellow countryman, Marc Ella was one of my childhood heroes. His nationality didnt mean a thing, ANZAC spirit taught us from young age that Aussies are our brothers in arms. Respect Ella Brothers.

I will always remember the great Mark Ella along with the amazing team of players he had around him. It was a great era of rugby for Australia and we across the ditch just marveled at the type of running game they were playing. They were a great team and with Mark in their ranks they didn't lose many games. Thank-you for sharing this vid brings back great memories.

Thank you so much for uploading and creating this sequence! I was spellbound in 1984 when he played such magical rugby on the Aussie tour to the UK! Most rugby enthusiasts agree that he was the most entertaining rugby player to have ever played!!!!!

@tvbant

Жыл бұрын

Me too. I even started supporting Oz on that tour cos of his playing style

My god Randwick were great to watch back then. The pace and skill they played with makes it easy to see why they won so many flags. Mark Ella is one of my all time favourite players and seeing him here just confirms it.

Mark Ella retired from International rugby after the 1984 Wallaby grand slam tour aged only 25. Still think he had 2-3 good years in him . The Wallabies could have done with at the 1987 RWC. One of the great rugby flyhalfs ever.

I remember watching that amazing ozzy team when I was young. Fantastic squad of players....... respect from Wales.

The Ella Brothers... mandatory watching every Saturday playing for Randwick.... just mystical skills...

@WELLBRAN

Жыл бұрын

Remember them in Cornwall UK

I was too young to remember watching Mark Ella. My family, especially my Mum, often mention the Ella Brothers whenever rugby union is discussed.

My only 'claim to fame' (🤣😂🤣) as a rugby player is, I tackled Mark Ella once, in a High School rugby match. Matraville High flogged us by 76 - 0 as I recall. Huge fan of the Wicks & the Wallabies when the Ella Bros played.

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

I have a good friend who played fullback for a high school team that had the misfortune of coming up against Matraville High in the Waratah Shield. He tells the story that at least 5 times in the game, Mark Ella broke the line and was running straight at my fullback mate with plenty of support. Each time, like any good dutiful fullback (my friend was an excellent player BTW) he took the ball carrier (Mark Ella) who passed and Matraville scored. Late in the game, well thrashed, it happened again and this time my mate decided he'd fake the tackle and go for the intercept. Sure enough, Mark Ella threw the dummy and scored. To this day, my mate still says, "How did he know??? How did he know I was going to go for the intercept??"

What a beautifully skilled player. I never saw much of him in his time. He’s a joy watch.

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

You really missed something. He was the greatest rugby player I ever saw.

When the man they call the King, Wally Lewis, and who played in the same postion, calls you the best player he ever saw, you're it! Special mention for Russell Fairfax, who I watched a a number of times down at Coogee Oval playing for the Greens on a Saturday afternoon. He was absolutely top class. Would ha e been an all time great for Australian Rugby, but got lured to Rugby League, where he still showed his class, but not like he did in Union.

Arguably the greatest player Australia has ever produced, and possibly will ever.

@chrisbuesnell3428

Жыл бұрын

@@petefrench4198 How can he be in Wilkinson carter mold when he played before them. He was better than both those players. Ella had a casualness about him. Made it look easy.

@3VISION3

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisbuesnell3428mark ella was pure talent, he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves, kinda like Christian Cullen, both players were absolute beasts

@george2009town

Ай бұрын

No argument here, greatest rugby player of any code ever, even Wally Lewis said that he was best he played against.

Grew up watching the Ella brothers carve it up ... being a maori in NZ following all his games on telly. Kind of upset my family. But damn u can deny his skill.

The Great Mark Ella , alongside Errol Tobias Hugo Porta Grant Fox and Naas Botha the best 10,s of the 1980,s

Some people talk about the way rugby has evolved and the speed and athleticism of today's players. Randwick's heyday with the Ella brothers was incomparable. Today's backlines could learn a lot from the genius of Mark Ella.

Genius is an understatement. Watching Randwick in the 80s was pure joy. I still can't believe he retired at 25. One of many reasons I hate Alan Jones. Lloyd Walker is the forgotten man of that Randwick side. Amazing hands.

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

Watching Randwick in the 70s and 80s was a pure joy - unless you were a Manly or Parramatta fan as I am. We had our moments against them though - the 1977 Shute Shield grand final will forever remain one of my most precious memories.

Ella was a genius, a maverick and trail blazer.

Mark Ella was the master . At one stage had five iIndigenous players all of them fantastic, and today the Australian team has none

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

What indigenous player would want to run out with that current rabble? All you have to do is have a look at the NRL and the AFL to know where the indigenous talent is going.

What an incredible player he was and one of my favourite players to watch. Retired too early in my opinion.

That 84 wallabies side was magnificent

Brilliant player. Living in soccer mad UK, never saw the brilliant galloping greens in their pomp, so thanks for the upload.

@Rasperdan

Жыл бұрын

Move to Wales its rugby mad here :)

What a great post for Mark Ella and as a Kiwi I always enjoyed watching Mark and Glen playing for Oz. In the same way, I have enjoyed watching the Barrett brothers playing for the Blacks though it is interesting to note that Mark and Glen never got to play for Oz at the same time.

Thanks for the upload. What a treat to watch Mark Ella and his brothers playing the zenith of Geoff Mould's shallow backline attacking rugby.

Thanks for uploading this footage.

Under my Umbr-Ella Ella Ella eh! Champagne rugby in motion in the 80's Randwick team with the Maestro at the helm. 🏆🏉🥂🍾

GOAT

What fantastic football. No way is this entertaining today. Gosh looking at this we've gone backwards. Much better back then.

Best rugby video on KZread ! ps - those club rugby grounds in the 80s could do with some grass...

Thanks for this!! Mark Ella...Aussies o the early/mid 80s. Great 👍

Ella brothers ✊ Insane skills and dominance.

@george2009town

Ай бұрын

Cousin Steve was magic too in league.

Great video! Fantastic footage, never got to see much of his Randwick stuff living in W.A, so this was great to watch!

Brilliant coverage. Great passing and follow up style

Miss these days of Sydney rugby, the old TNT balls, a packed Sports Ground and Millner Field to watch club rugby

simply magic

I was playing rugby at secondary school and I watched some of the home nations games. This guy was just head and shoulders above the rest.

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

I have a good friend who played fullback for a high school team that had the misfortune of coming up against Matraville High in the Waratah Shield. He tells the story that at least 5 times in the game, Mark Ella broke the line and was running straight at my fullback mate with plenty of support. Each time, like any good dutiful fullback (my friend was an excellent player BTW) he took the ball carrier (Mark Ella) who passed and Matraville scored. Late in the game, well thrashed, it happened again and this time my mate decided he'd fake the tackle and go for the intercept. Sure enough, Mark Ella threw the dummy and scored. To this day, my mate still says, "How did he know??? How did he know I was going to go for the intercept??"

Awesome!

What a wonderful talent

Legend.

You can't coach that. Your just born with it. He's the most fluent player I've ever seen across both codes of rugby in Australia 🏉👍🏽

Notice all the body sizes. All pretty much regular. Very few gym bodies. From the days before the tactical replacement (TR) laws when every player had no choice but to make it to the 80 minute mark if injury didn't interrupt. Rugby needs the faster brain, it does not need bulk (usually mutually exclusive), to play with speed, accuracy, control, side-steps, anticipation, offloads and support lines to unlock the defence. The TR changes have been a huge blow to producing entertainment that will guarantee continued support from fans, even from those who will never play the game. Though their sons and daughters may. Rugby has to think about the future now that it has gone fully professional: exactly what is its 'product'. Play like this is not just the Ella boys, it is opportunity, early involvement, and the sheer joy of running around a paddock with 14 mates against 15 future mates. [We don't do tribalism either.]

@mhoppy6639

Жыл бұрын

What a brilliant comment. Rugby really was a game for all shapes and sizes back then. Until these ridiculous American football style substitutions are examined properly and player weights - sizes are addressed through thoughtful law changes the game will continue to evolve past the point where real people have a realistic chance of success. Now, smaller, lighter people are like hens teeth and even then they have to bulk up beyond a reasonable point just to survive the collisions.

@peterclark6290

Жыл бұрын

@@mhoppy6639 Cheers

Best ever !!

What a great player. The Wallabies of them days were marauders.

Gosh that was fast/goood footwork

Woah first footage of this man and he had ultra instinct some great rugby.

Ella to Ella to Ella = Try

There's green everywhere. Except on the pitch

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

Great comment!😆

Only Sue-Ella could get near this.

What the Ella's!!! 😀😃

Too bad there's not video of what was in a way was his most remarkable try. Playing for Randwick one day he went to force the ball in the in-goal area but quietly told the referee, the only other person nearby, that he did not intent to force the ball. He then picked the ball up without putting any downward pressure on it, walked up field past the quarter line, and then all the way down to the opposite end of the field and put the ball down under the opposition's crossbar, whereupon the referee, who had walked just behind him the whole way, awarded a try. What can be more genius than that?

Marcus Smith reminds me of Ella. Same talent and feel for the game. England just need to drop Farrel and find a new coach to give him a free hand.

This team alone could have given the '87 All Blacks a run for their money in the first World Cup!

Never gets a mention in all time great lists WHY??

NOTE TO NSWRU: GET THE SHUTE SHIELD BACK ON FREE TO AIR TV.

2.34

9.35

0.15

up the wicks

@george2009town

Ай бұрын

Galloping Greens

Larkham or Ella?

Back when rugby was rugby, not the crap they try to pass off as rugby now. Forwards all wearing black Adidas French Cap boots , John Maxwell ruling the roost

I just love the ellas but why were their best efforts always against the highlanders

@Fuzcapp

Жыл бұрын

I was at the game shown at around 2:00. It was a final at TG Milner to see who would go on to play Manly in the GF the following week (as a Manly fan I was at the GF as well - to see us get flogged). At the TG Milner game, I remember thinking on the way there, that the match up between Mark Ella and Charlie Blunt would probably decide the game. Charlie Blunt was no slouch - a very good player, but Mark Ella made Charlie look foolish all day. I just sat there (behind the northern goal posts) continually shaking my head in disbelief at the stuff Mark Ella was doing. I've never seen a five-eighth dominate a game so much, over a damned good opponent.

Why didn't he play league? Would have torn it up with his skills.

@george2009town

Ай бұрын

St George almost snared him, he would have killed it there too, just see what his cousin Steve managed to do at Parramatta.

At 0.33 all the passes were forward