Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson (19 May 19645 November 1997) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. Nicknamed 'Jacko', he was an Australia national and Queensland State of Origin representative or . Jackson played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for the Souths Magpies, before moving to the New South Wales Rugby League and playing for the Canberra Raiders, Brisbane Broncos and North Sydney Bears. He also played in the Rugby Football League for English club Leeds. Jackson worked in the media following his retirement in 1993, and died as the result of a drug overdose in 1997.

Playing career

1980s

In 1980, Jackson played rugby union in the under-17s Australian schoolboys representative team, before playing in the under-18s Australian schoolboys rugby league team the following year.

Death It would later be revealed that, as a fifteen-year-old, Jackson had been sexually abused by his (Southport) football coach, Hugh Michael "Ossie" McNamara (1935–2012), a former Roman Catholic Marist Brother (his clerical name was "Brother Oswald") who was later convicted and jailed (in 1995) for indecently dealing with a boy at Marist Brothers' College Ashgrove, Queensland. McNamara had molested boys at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill in Sydney while he was a brother at the school during the 1970s. It has been alleged that McNamara was let go by St Joseph's but was never actually charged. McNamara then started working at The Southport School where he sexually abused a number of the 1980 1st XV Rugby team, including Jackson.

The trauma caused by this abuse led Jackson to suffer from depression and to use drugs and alcohol throughout his life to try to combat it. In November 1997, Jackson shocked the Australian rugby league community when he died, alone in a Sydney hotel room, of a heroin overdose. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered at both Stanwell Park, where he lived, south of Sydney and at Lang Park in Brisbane.

Jackson's death went on to be used as a powerful image in 2000 in a radio and television campaign to raise awareness of an anti-child abuse campaign. Since 2003, the Peter Jackson Memorial Trophy has been awarded to the person, whether a player or member of the support staff, who makes the greatest contribution to the Queensland State of Origin team each year.