Miles of esteem as FOG Gene Miles scores an OAM from King

Gene Miles was a genius and a giant of Queensland’s earliest State of Origin teams. He’s run an esteemed charity, the FOGS, since 2008.

Queensland chairman of selectors Gene Miles. Picture: AAP

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Gene Miles is a legendary FOG. Former Origin Great. Now the FOG’s an OAM.

“You never expect anything like this,” Miles says of receiving an Order of the Member of Australia on the King’s Birthday Honours list for services to rugby league and youth.

“What I’ve done has never been a chore to me. I started playing footy when I was 10 years old and I’m still involved in the game at 65 years of age. The game has been absolutely tremendous to me. Anything I’ve done in my life has totally been on the back of rugby league.”

Miles’s appearances in Queensland’s famous State of Origin teams of the early 1980s were ­unforgettable for NSW players, totally being on his back, and hanging from his tree-trunk legs, and trying to grip his waist, while he threw gorgeous, deft, basketball-style passes to teammates.

A big, multi-skilled bopper at 193cm and 102kg, Miles was the first to dish out the genie-in-a-­bottle style of passing that became a staple of the modern game.

Asked whether his OAM was for services to one-handed offloads, Miles laughs. “I like that line. Those passes were thanks to my former life in junior sport in Townsville.

“I played quite a bit of the old basketball back in those days. It was nothing I was ever coached to do, it just … came naturally. In basketball you tossed the ball over people’s heads and around corners and I found it transitioned pretty easily to rugby league.”

Miles’s exemplary playing career included 23 Origins for Queensland, 14 Tests for Australia, two Kangaroos tours, including the Invincibles jaunt to England in 1982, and a place in Queensland’s team of the century.

He’s served as chairman of the selection panel for 25 years but the real passion project is as executive chairman of the esteemed FOGS, the not-for-profit organisation honouring and supporting past Queensland players, aiding multiple charities and mentoring and assisting Indigenous communities, particularly disadvantaged youth, in the state.

Miles has held the role since the FOGS founder, Dick “Tosser” Turner, passed away in 2008. The mantra boils down to Queenslanders Helping Queenslanders.

“We’re very proud of it,” Miles says. “Tosser wanted to give back to footy. This is what he put in place and I’m just doing my best to carry that on.

“It’s nice to be acknowledged with an honour like this but it’s not going to change me in any way, shape or form. Rugby league really has been sensational to me and if we can keep giving back the way we do, and encourage a lot of other people to be good people, we’ll consider that a win.”

Former athletes joining Miles on the King’s list were Olympic swimmer Nicole Livingstone (AO, OAM for services to sports development and administration, promotion of women’s sport and community health) and Tia-Clair Toomey (services to crossfit and weightlifting).

Nicole Livingstone has been recognised in the King's Birthday Honours. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Origin in the ’80s had tough, skilful and captivating football without the professionalism of the modern era.

Training sessions weren’t always as important as getting to the pub for old-school bonding sessions.

“We didn’t have the 10-day preparations they have now,” Miles says. “We had four or five days and that was enough.

“We were pretty fond of our bonding sessions so we had a ­couple of those, and away we went. Any issues you had, you certainly got those out of your system in the first couple of days.

“Those early Origin games at Lang Park – I’ll remember those forever. It’s developed into one hell of a series, hasn’t it? Origin has become a beast.”

Queensland is presently embroiled in selection controversy over the possible sacking of captain Daly Cherry-Evans. We cannot let the selection chairman off the hook, or telephone line, without asking. So who’s your skipper for game two? Will you let that genie out of the bottle?

“Ah!” Miles chuckles. “I’m just watching our coach (Billy Slater) on The Footy Show as we speak. He’s been hit with that same question. He’s dodged a bullet there.

“He said ‘Oh, I’ll be making that announcement tomorrow’. I think we can all just hang in there for another day. We’re no chance to win, apparently. From the beginning of Origin, that underdog tag has been around. We embrace it. There’s nothing Queenslanders like better than watching 17 guys going out and having a dig for them.”