Michael Cronin

Michael Cronin may refer to:

Mick Cronin (footballer)

Deverick John 'Mick' Cronin (18 March 1911 - 1 September 1979) was an Australian rules football player, umpire and television commentator in Western Australia.

Private life

He was the son of native-born parents Michael Henry Cronin, farmer, and his wife Nellie Agatha, née Dawson. Although of Methodist background, Mick completed his primary education at a convent-run boarding-school at Toodyay, then worked as a delivery-boy and as an apprentice to a butcher at Harvey.

In 1930 he was recruited by East Perth Football Club which found him a job with a grocer in Perth. Cronin was later employed at Whitty's lottery agency and at Boans Ltd department store. In the 1930s he was also a middle-order batsman with the Subiaco Cricket Club.

On 6 April 1940 Cronin had married a stenographer Roma Chipper at St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Perth. That year he opened a confectionery shop at the Hurlingham Picture Theatre, South Perth.

Mobilized in the Citizen Military Forces in January 1942, he served at home in the Australian Imperial Force for the duration of the war, engaged mostly in anti-aircraft activities. He was discharged with the rank of sergeant in October 1945, after which he ran snack shops in central Perth.

Mick Cronin (rugby league)

Michael William "Mick" Cronin OAM (born 28 June 1951 in Kiama, New South Wales) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer and coach. He was a goal-kicking centre for the Australian national team and a stalwart for the Parramatta Eels club. He played in 22 Tests and 11 World Cup matches between 1973 and 1982. Cronin retired as the NSWRL Premiership's and the Australian Kangaroos' all-time highest point-scorer and has since been named amongst the nation's finest footballers of the 20th century.

Country and early representative career

Cronin played for Christian Brothers (now Edmund Rice) in the Illawarra competition as an under 12. He was so good that when his team made the semi-finals the opposition appealed against Cronin's inclusion on residence grounds, claiming he was from Gerringong.

Cronin's first grade career began in 1969 for Gerringong. He was selected to play for Country in 1973 where he impressed enough to make the that year's Kangaroo tour. He played in two Tests and ten minor tour matches and finished as the tour's highest point scorer with seven tries and twenty eight goals. In 1974 he was named New South Wales' Country Rugby League Player of the Year. He played in all three Tests of the 1974 domestic Ashes series against Great Britain and the following year he played in NSW Country's historic 1975 win over Sydney City. He was selected in Australia's 1975 World Cup squad and played in five matches in the tournament in the centres alongside Bob Fulton. In a match against Wales in Sydney during the series, he kicked nine goals.