Rugby Power Broker Found Shelter in a Homeless Hostel

Ross Turnbull was a Wallaby who studied law, took degrees at Harvard and Wharton, and practised law before turning to rugby administration. In 1975, at 33, he became the youngest manager of a Wallabies tour squad. He later chaired the New South Wales Rugby Union, served as deputy chairman of the national body and as a director of the International Rugby Board, and helped organise the first Rugby World Cup.

He joined the board of the motoring organisation NRMA in 2002 and went on to become its president. Reports at the time said he ran up large personal and corporate credit card bills, which earned him the nickname Sir Lunchalot.

By early 2006 he was bankrupt, with debts of about 1.8 million Australian dollars, among them money owed to his own children. He then vanished, and friends and family feared for his safety. He stayed for three months with the restaurateur Jeff Gambin and afterwards moved into Just Enough Faith, a charity-run hostel for homeless people in Rozelle, Sydney.

In the hostel he lived rent-free in exchange for volunteering, and Crikey, citing the Sydney Morning Herald, reported that he had been there about nine months. His work included serving food from the back of a mobile soup van to people living on the streets. He travelled by bus and had about 400 dollars in the bank from welfare payments.

Asked about how he came to this, he said he could not blame anyone but himself. His story drew attention because of how high he had once stood.