John Woods, one of Royals most talented players, sadly passed away on 27 November in the Canberra Hospital after a brief illness surrounded by his loving wife, Debbie, and children Carrie, Jason, Christie and Sasha.

John was born in Kerang Victoria in 1948, the second youngest of seven children of Winifred and Harry Woods. The family moved to Canberra in 1956 where Harry secured a job with the Commonwealth Department of Works. Harry was a foundation member of the Eastlake Football Club where John played with the Eastlake Juniors.

He commenced school at St Benedict’s Primary in Narrabundah, however his introduction to rugby came through his attendance at St Edmunds College where playing rugby for the college was mandatory. He originally played in the front row but soon found his way to the backs once he gained a feel for the game and showed his speed and skills.

Royals former player legend and Patron, Keith Hawke, soon discovered John’s ability and recruited him to one of the Royals Junior teams where he further developed his rugby skills.

John was an outstanding young rugby player for Royals and the ACT in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

He played for the Royals Rugby College, established and coached by Jack Waters, in 1966 and continued to hone his rugby skills. John was a contemporary of current Royals Patron and club legend, John Kelsey and other Royals notables including Peter Quilty, Pat Vaughan, Jerry McGrane, Max Coombes, Paul Jones, Eddie Park, Bob Jepsen and Dave Williams.

He represented the ACT in the Under 18’s and was selected in the NSW Country Under 18’s representative squad.  He captained the Country side and the team won the Australian championship at Manly Oval in Sydney against the Sydney A team.  His mum and dad, and sister Julie and her husband Ken Gumley, were in the crowd to witness him making the acceptance speech on receiving the winners’ trophy.

John also captained the Under 19 Royals Rugby College team which won the Under 19 knockout competition and the premiership that year.

In 1966 John was also selected for the ACT Under 19 side that played Queensland Under 19’s in the curtain raiser to the British Lions versus Australia Test match at Lang Park in Brisbane in front of a crowd of 17,000. ACT beat Queensland in a tight and hard-fought game.  Unfortunately, the Australian Rugby team was beaten soundly 31 – 0 in the Test match which followed.

The Rugby College repeated the double again in 1967 winning the knockout competition and premiership.

John commenced his senior rugby career in 1968 with a Royals pre-season tour of New Zealand. Royals played games against Hamilton, Tauranga, Rotorua, Taumarunui and Waiuku.

John was selected in the Royals First Grade team in 1968 playing initially on the wing, and then the centres where he partnered former Wallaby international, Peter Scott.

Royals made the Grand Final that year against Ainslie, where Wallaby international Rod Batterham played on the wing for the opposition.  John was selected at inside centre and Royals won the Grand Final 28-0, arguably Royals finest ever win in a Grand Final. Royals great, Jack Walters, died the day after that Grand Final win.

In 1969 John was selected in the ACT Senior squad to play at the NSW country championships in Sydney.

He was also selected that year in the Minister for Interior’s XV to play in the annual match against Combined Services at Manuka Oval on 6 August 1969.  The ‘Interior’ team was made up of current representative players and former Wallaby internationals, including the Dawson twins (Chris and Paul), and Tony Miller, the veteran Wallaby prop forward.  The backline featured local ACT players thought to have promising representative futures. The Services team included rugby league internationals, Bobby Fulton (Manly captain and future legend of NRL) and Keith Outten (Balmain).  Both Fulton and Outten had been called up for National Service.  The Minister’s team beat Combined Services 13 – 6. John acquitted himself well and local press reported that he had an outstanding game.

John played 95 first grade games with Royals and 123 grade games in all. The latter part of John’s career was disrupted by a recurring hamstring injury, but he made a major contribution whenever he played. He officially retired in 1973 after Royals Second Grade Grand Final win (18 – 12) against Wests.  That second grade team was coached by legendry Royals figure, Mick ‘Frog’ Ffrench and was Royals first premiership in any grade since the1968 first grade grand final win.

John and his contemporaries established a camaraderie and family orientation at Royals that set the platform for the club’s success in the mid to late 1970s through to the 1990s.

John had a long and successful career with the Department of Foreign Affairs with postings in Dacca Bangladesh, Nairobi Kenya, New Delhi India, Los Angelos US, Chicago US, Washington US and Vienna Austria. He retired from the Department in 2017.

He recently expressed a keen interest in getting more involved in Royals, in particular through establishing a group of ex Royals players from his period for catchups at Royals home games.

John will be sadly missed by his many friends at Royals for his warm and engaging personality, his quick humour and the interest he showed in his friends.

Funeral arrangements will be notified when available.