The John Eales Medal is awarded to honour the best Australian rugby union player each year. The medal, which was launched in 2002, is jointly awarded each year by the Australian Rugby Union and the Rugby Union Players Association .
21-467: The medal is named after John Eales , arguably the most successful captain in the history of Australian Rugby. Voting for the John Eales Medal is tallied after each Test match, with each Wallabies player awarding points on a 3–2–1 basis. RUPA Chief Executive Tony Dempsey is quoted as saying: This is the ultimate award. To be voted the best in your country by your own peers is the highest honour
42-620: A double major in psychology from the University of Queensland in 1991 prior to taking to the international rugby stage. Eales played lock for Queensland Reds and Australia . He was given the nickname "Nobody" because "Nobody's perfect". Eales' 55-cap time as captain marked an era of Australian success in world rugby. Eales played a part in Australia's victories at the Rugby World Cup , first in 1991 , and later in 1999 . He took over
63-520: A further 80 countries. In the United States, the company operates under the Liberty Travel and Travel Associates retail brands and GOGO Worldwide Vacations as a wholesale brand. It also operates StudentUniverse, FCM Travel Solutions , Corporate Traveler, ciEvents, Campus Travel, Stage & Screen, and Healthwise. The company was co-founded by Graham Turner and Geoff Harris in 1982 and began with
84-469: A further debt facility from the Bank of England under emergency COVID-19 schemes . In 2016, Flight Centre UK was featured on Channel 4 's Dispatches in an episode called 'The Truth About Cheap Flights'. Dispatches found alleged examples of undisclosed flight mark-ups, discriminatory pricing against elderly customers, not offering refunds for refundable flights, and seat-blocking. In 2017, Flight Centre
105-511: A lock by several players. Eales was a founder of the Mettle Group and his personal company the JohnEales5. He is also a director of Flight Centre Travel Group and Magellan Financial Group and has been a columnist for The Australian newspaper. He is also engaged as a consultant for Westpac . He is also a non-executive director at Fuji Xerox . Eales acted as a "rugby ambassador" at
126-504: A number of brands including Cruiseabout, Student Flights, Travel Associates, FCM Travel Solutions, Corporate Traveller, Travel Money NZ, Travel Managers Group and Executive Travel Group. Flight Centre was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic , which saw an 80% decline in the company's share price (or about 85% from the August 2018 peak), cancellation of a previously announced dividend, and
147-539: A player can hope to aspire to. Naming this award after Australia's most successful captain ever is fully endorsed by the Players. This has become one of the most sought after and coveted awards in Australian sport. The winner of the 2021 medal, Michael Hooper , was honoured for a record fourth time. John Eales John Anthony Eales AM (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and
168-775: A store in Sydney . Flight Centre South Africa opened its first retail store in Eastgate, Bedfordview, Johannesburg on 17 Dec 1994. In 1995, Flight Centre UK and Flight Centre Canada opened. In December 2015, the company acquired StudentUniverse, the world's largest student and youth travel agency, and a 70% stake in BYOjet. Additionally, in 2016, the company began online travel brand Aunt Betty. Together, BYOJet and Aunt Betty operate as "low cost" Australian online travel agents, providing flights and other services at lower prices than Flight Centre's retail locations. In New Zealand, Flight Centre operates
189-411: A suspension in trading of shares from 23 March 2020 to 7 April 2020. In early 2020, Flight Centre announced that 6,000 staff would be made redundant or placed on unpaid leave globally, due to the effects of international travel restrictions in the pandemic. This included 3,800 staff in Australia. The New Zealand branch of the company made 250 employees redundant and temporarily closed 33 branches, out of
210-599: A total of 1200 employees and 140 outlets around New Zealand. In June 2020, Flight Centre announced the redundancy of a further 1500 staff. In October 2020, the company announced the closure of a further 91 stores, with several hundred further redundancies. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, Flight Centre carried out an emergency rescue equity raising in April 2020 of $ 700 million at a price of $ 7.20 per share, or approximately 90% less than its August 2018 peak. In June 2020 it sought
231-614: A total of 402 points in the Super 12 competition with 6 tries, 66 conversions and 80 penalties for the Queensland Reds. No forward has scored more points than him in the competition's history. He is one of a select group to have won the Rugby World Cup twice . He retired as the most-capped lock of all time, with 84 Test appearances in that position (his other two Tests were as a number eight ). Eales has since been surpassed in caps as
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#1733085286129252-501: Is largely because of his goal kicking , which is unusual for a forward; his two tries are unremarkable (in comparison, all of Checchinato's, Charvis's and McCaw's points have come from tries). Eales captained Australia on 60 occasions, 55 times in Test matches, making him the second most capped Wallaby captain after George Gregan (59). As of 2017, he is ranked seventh in games played as international captain. As of 2017, Eales' 86 caps make him
273-776: The 2007 Rugby World Cup in France, which involved a number of media duties and fulfilled the role as an Athlete Liaison Officer for the Australian Olympic Committee in the Athens, Beijing and 2012 London Olympics . He is also an Ambassador for the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation , Hearts in Union and the Melanoma Institute Australia. Together with Bond University , he presents
294-624: The Mosman Cricket Club in Sydney Grade Cricket . Flight Centre Flight Centre Travel Group (FCTG) is an Australian travel agency . It was founded in 1982, and is headquartered in Brisbane , Australia. FCTG operates under multiple names in Australia, New Zealand, United States, Canada, United Kingdom, South Africa, India, China mainland, Hong Kong (China), Singapore, United Arab Emirates, and Mexico, and licenses its name in
315-496: The annual "global" staff party to pack condoms and painkillers. During the COVID-19 pandemic , Flight Centre was criticised for withholding substantial amounts from refunds to customer when suppliers failed to provide travel services, claiming "cancellation fees". Flight Centre later changed course to avoid court action following warnings from the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission and consumers that
336-417: The annual John Eales Rugby Excellence Scholarship which includes one-on-one mentoring with Eales. Eales has written two books, Learning From Legends , Sport, and a Business version. Eales is an occasional lecturer at University of Notre Dame . Politically, Eales supported Australia's becoming a republic in the runup to the 1999 Australian republic referendum . Eales' son, Elijah Eales, plays for
357-589: The captaincy from Phil Kearns . Eales scored 173 points for Australia – 2 tries (one valued at 4, one at 5), 34 penalties and 31 conversions – a total which, as of April 2013, places him 12th on the all-time scoring list for Australia . He is the highest scoring forward in Test rugby history and, as of November 2015, only one of seven forwards to have surpassed 100 points in Test rugby (the others being Richie McCaw , Jean Prat , Takashi Kikutani , Colin Charvis , Mamuka Gorgodze and Carlo Checchinato ). This
378-571: The fourth most capped forward in Australia's Test rugby history, and joint 9th on the overall list. Eales played 20 Tests against the All Blacks, winning 11 and losing 9. Of those 20 Tests, he captained the Wallabies 11 times, winning 6 and losing 5. Eales is one of only 21 players to have represented the Queensland Reds in 100 or more state games – he represented his state in 112 games. He scored
399-512: The most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups . Eales went to school at Marist College Ashgrove , in Ashgrove . In his youth, Eales was a cricket all-rounder and played first grade cricket for Queensland University in the Brisbane QCA cricket competition. Eales completed a Bachelor of Arts degree with
420-596: Was below minimum wage, and staff relied on generating profit through practices such as these in order to earn commissions. The company was the subject of an investigation by The 7.30 Report . In response to the investigation, more than 200 staff contacted the ABC to report widespread bullying, harassment, drug use and a cult -like atmosphere at Flight Centre. Also in 2018, Stuff.co.nz published copies of posters in Flight Centre offices which reminded female staff selected for
441-421: Was criticised for advertising that it would price match competitors and then insisting on charging a $ 49 fee when customers attempted to claim a price match. In 2018, Flight Centre was criticised for price gouging after former staff reported that the company trained employees to deliberately overcharge customers to generate profit for the company. It was also reported that the base salary of travel consultants
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