Eric Lindsay Magill was born at Griffith, NSW on 31 January 1922, however his military record indicated that he was born on 31 January 1919.
He grew up at Bogan Gate in the central west of NSW and attended the Bogan Gate Public School. He received his secondary education at Yanco Agricultural College.
It was in 1944 during the war years that Eric made his way to Wests. He played only one season for the club. In 1947 Eric was graded by South Sydney and his son, John, posted the following information on the Rugby League Project site.
“My mother Marie Magill kept a scrapbook of dad’s newspaper clippings and photos of him playing for Souths. They said that this man will play for Australia one day but unfortunately, he broke his knee cartilage. In those days there was no operation that could fix it so ended what could have been a brilliant career. The Rabbitohs got him from the Army representative team, and he was paid 350 pounds for one game.”
However, there was much more to Eric Magill’s story.
