John (Jack as he was known then) Thompson recently passed away.
John played on the wing for the Woods in the early1950s and was the second Eastwood player, after John Bain, to be selected for NSW. He was good enough to be in the Wallabies Probables team for the 1953 tour of South Africa
Jack Thompson on the right, The Sun 14 September 1952 (note the old traditional Eastwood jersey)
John switched to Rugby League in 1954 and joined the Western Suburbs Magpies where he had a life long association but never forgot his roots in Eastwood Rugby.
He was lighting fast and also had a successful career on the professional running circuit and was a long time employee at the Commonwealth Bank.
Wests League Club has a wonderful history of John's career in both codes - you can read it here and some stories of his later years is here and here
Eastwood v Gordon at Chatswood 1951. John is running between the other players.
(thanks to John's cousin Woodies supporter Ian Inglis for the sad news)
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