Vale Ken Shine

The South Sydney Rabbitohs are mourning the passing of former first grade coach, Ken Shine, who passed away peacefully yesterday afternoon (Thursday) at Lulworth House, Potts Point, at the age of 77.

He was born Kenneth Ralph Piggott on 7 May 1949 at Newtown, Sydney, to parents Noel and Eileen Piggott. His parents divorced when he was young and he moved with his mum to Narrabri, on the north-west slopes of NSW where he grew up. His mum Eileen later married a local shearer named, Joe Shine, and Ken took his surname to legally become Ken Shine.

Ken attended St. Francis Xavier’s School at Narrabri and showed great talent in cricket and rugby league in his local town. He used to say there was not much else to do in a country town other than play sport or go to the pub, and the pub was not his scene because he didn’t drink, so sport became his passion. The nuns at the school encouraged him to leave school and do an electrical apprenticeship, which required him to do lengthy trips to Tamworth TAFE and back.

Mr Shine also went to an Outward Bound camp, which completely changed his mind set and ignited his competitive spirit. Soon after he was selected to represent the NSW Country cricket side (Emus) and toured the world as a cricketer. He then moved to Maitland to play Rugby League for the local Maitland Pickers, who played in the strong Newcastle Rugby League premiership. He was noted as being a handy utility back with sound goal-kicking abilities at the Pickers between 1967 and 1987, and was their fullback in the premiership-winning sides of 1971 and 1973. He held a point-scoring record there until it was broken by the Immortal, Andrew Johns. One of his team-mates at Maitland was Peter Sharp, who went on to coach Manly-Warringah, Northern Eagles and Cronulla-Sutherland.

Mr Shine started his coaching career in 1979 with Macquarie United’s second grade side, who also played in the Newcastle Rugby League premiership, and in 1983 he took over as South Newcastle Lions first grade coach for the next five years, taking them to grand finals in 1986 and 1987. He then left Australia to coach in France during 1987-88.

Upon returning to Australia he was still working as an electrician and specialising in air conditioning, when he won a place with the North Sydney first grade cricket club. An invitation from John Monie at the Parramatta Eels sent him back to Rugby League to become their assistant coach at Parramatta with their third grade side (which was the Presidents Cup Under-21s) in 1988, taking over as their coach in 1989-90.

Mr Shine left the Eels to join Balmain for 1991-93, as their assistant coach under Alan Jones. Jones had great coaching success in rugby union and Ken convinced him that he was the man to help him transition that knowledge to Rugby League. Shine and Jones were both enticed to come to the Rabbitohs by George Piggins, where Ken became their assistant coach in early 1994. He also encouraged a couple of players that he coached at the Eels to come and play for the Rabbitohs, including Jason Bell and David Penna.

The 1994 season started with Bob McCarthy as the Rabbitohs Head Coach throughout their Tooheys Challenge Cup pre-season campaign, where against all odds they defeated the much-fancied Brisbane Broncos outfit 27-26 in the final. By the time the premiership started, Shine joined McCarthy as co-coach of the first grade side. They didn’t start off well and lost their opening three premiership games convincingly, and after the Bulldogs defeat McCarthy resigned as coach, citing he needed a hip operation.

Mr Shine was now head coach, and they drew 20-all with Illawarra at Wollongong in their next game, and then won eight of their next nine games, losing only to the strong Manly-Warringah side in round six. There was great hope of a Rabbitohs revival, but it was short lived because they won only one game from their remaining nine games.

In his four seasons as coach of Souths we won only 22 games, and drew four from 85 starts, however he did what he could with limited resources and the inflating and turbulent ARL-Super League war which raged during that time. As a result the team finished near the bottom of the ladder. They were very tough times for the Club and the game in many ways. In 1998, Shine was replaced as the Rabbitohs head coach by Steve Martin.

After leaving the Rabbitohs, Shine transitioned to lower-tier coaching positions outside the NRL, and also assumed a coaching role with the Sydney University Cricket Club from September 1997 to March 1999. He then moved to rugby union administration and served as general manager of the Parramatta Two Blues, and also worked at Canterbury and Eastern Suburbs Rugby League Clubs.

Mr Shine is survived by his lovely wife Maryann and three daughters who all adored him, Kennedy, Abbey and Scarlett, his son-in-law William and six-month-old grandson, Valentine. His family would especially like to thank the Family of League for all their continued support, and the St. Vincent’s Hospital, Sacred Heart Hospice, Roslyn Gardens, and Lulworth House for the way they cared for him throughout his long journey.

On behalf of everyone connected with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, we offer our deepest and most sincere condolences to the family and friends of Mr Ken Shine in this most difficult time.