About Mark Ella
Mark Gordon Ella, AM (born 5 June 1959) is an indigenous Australian former rugby union footballer. Ella played at flyhalf/five-eighth and was capped by the Wallabies 25 times, captaining Australia on 10 occasions. Ella made his debut tour with the Wallabies on the 1979 Australia rugby union tour of Argentina. He would later make his Test debut for Australia during the 1980 Bledisloe Cup Test series, in which the Wallabies defeated the All Blacks two games to one – the first three-Test series victory Australia against New Zealand since 1949, the first series victory over the All Blacks on Australian soil since 1934, and the first occasion the Wallabies successfully retained the Bledisloe Cup. In 1982, Ella was made captain of the Australia national rugby union team and he would go on to captain the Wallabies on 10 occasions from 1982 to 1983. After Arthur Beetson, he was the second indigenous Australian to captain a national sports team. Ella captained a depleted Australian team on the 1982 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand, which the Wallabies would lose one game to two against the All Blacks. However, Australia scored 316 points in 14 matches on tour, including 47 tries. Ella is perhaps most famous for his performances on the 1984 Australia rugby union tour of Britain and Ireland, during which Australia achieved rugby union's Grand Slam by defeating the Home Nations in four consecutive Tests, with Ella scoring one try in each Test. He and his brothers Glen (his twin) and Gary were educated at Matraville High School, where they learned to play rugby. All three went on to play for the Australia national team. Mark also played for Randwick and New South Wales domestically. Bob Dwyer, former coach of the Wallabies, in his first autobiography The Winning Way, claimed Ella to be one of the five most accomplished Australian players he had ever seen. Ella also played for Sydney in Ireland's seventh tour game, which Sydney won 16–12. Ella was again overlooked for national selection for Australia's one-off Bledisloe Cup Test in 1979 against New Zealand, which Australia won 12–6 in a tryless Test. Ella played in Australia's fourth touring match against Rosario, which Australia won 21–13.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.