Norman Douglas Somerville Provan was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach.
22 Facts About Norm Provan
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Norm Provan was graded by St George in 1950 after being turned down by Easts the prior year.
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Norm Provan set high standards for himself and his players directing a training mix that included sandhill running at Cronulla; lap running at Kogarah and touch-football.
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Norm Provan was content to maintain a certain distance from the team and saw the captain-coach role as a tough, solitary role requiring him to stand slightly apart from his players.
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Norm Provan holds the club record of 284 games for St George achieved between 1951 and 1965.
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In 1954 Norm Provan first represented for New South Wales and that same year made his Test debut, playing in all three matches of the 1954 series against the visiting Great Britain side commencing a representative second-row partnership with Wests Kel O'Shea that would continue for a number of years.
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Norm Provan appeared in 15 other minor matches on the tour.
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Norm Provan continued his Test pairing with Kel O'Shea in all three games of the domestic 1958 series against Great Britain and in 1959 featured in all three Tests against the visiting Kiwis.
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Also in 1959 Norm Provan played in the New South Wales loss to Queensland that attracted 35,261 spectators, smashing Brisbane's previous record for an interstate match of 22,817.
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Norm Provan is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No 310.
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Norm Provan was a non-playing coach for St George for a season in 1968 and with Parramatta for a single season in 1975.
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Norm Provan had two seasons coaching Cronulla-Sutherland in 1978 and 1979 taking them to a grand final in 1978 which they lost to Manly.
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Norm Provan played in finals football for fifteen consecutive seasons from 1951 to 1965.
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Norm Provan's victory statistic of ten consecutive first-grade premierships is a world record in rugby league and a world class achievement in any top-grade team sport.
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Norm Provan was awarded Life Membership of the St George Dragons club in 1963.
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In 2004 Norm Provan was admitted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
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In February 2008, Norm Provan was named in the list of Australia's 100 Greatest Players which was commissioned by the NRL and ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia.
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Norm Provan went on to be named in the second-row in Australian rugby league's Team of the Century.
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In 2008 New South Wales announced their rugby league team of the century and Norm Provan was again named at second-row.
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In October 2015, Norm Provan was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.
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In 2018 Norm Provan was inducted as a Rugby League Immortal along with Mal Meninga and pre-WWII greats Dave Brown, Frank Burge and Dally Messenger.
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On 20 July 2022, Norm Provan was named in the St George Dragons District Rugby League Clubs team of the century.