Mark Ella

Mark Ella AM (b.1959) was one of four Australians named amongst the eleven inaugural ‘legends’ of the International Rugby Board Hall of Fame in 2013. From a family of twelve children, Mark, his twin Glen and their brother Gary began playing rugby at Matraville High School, Sydney. All three represented the Australian Schoolboys in 1976, and played for the side in Britain in 1977/78. From 1979, Mark Ella was five-eighth for Randwick, playing in eight Grand Finals; he played 23 games for NSW. He made his Test debut as part of the Bledisloe Cup-winning side in New Zealand in 1980. In all, he played 26 Tests for Australia, captaining the side in ten. In 1983 he was voted Young Australian of the Year. In 1984, he scored tries in all four victorious Test matches against the UK and Ireland before retiring from rugby at the age of 25. In 2013 he was elected one of the four original Australian Rugby Invincibles. A founding director of the communications, marketing and events management company Horton Ella, he is now the executive producer of NITV Sport at SBS Australia, is chairman of the NSW and ACT Indigenous Cricket Advisory Committee and writes a regular column for the Australian newspaper.