Born in Sydney’s inner western Sydney suburbs in July of 1891, the eldest of 10, to Auguste and Mary Poirrier, Rene Joseph Francois Poirrier was already a man of the world, of sorts, when he set off to the great war, having an English father Australian mother and French grandfather. That said, at home he never lived more than 5km from where he was born.
Enlisting on June 1, 1916 Poirrier, who had played his football in the halves or as a fullback with both Pyrmont and Rozelle prior to the war, found himself assigned to the 117th Howitzer Battery as a gunner. Embarking on the Ascanius on 25 October, he landed in the French port of Etaples on April Fools day 1917 and six weeks later was transferred to the 5th Field Artillery Brigade responsible for half a dozen 18 pound guns capable of firing shells almost six kilometers.
Despite being removed from the front line trench warfare by being part of the artillery brigade, Poirrier received a gunshot wound to his left thigh on 29 July, 1918, and was shipped to hospital in England on 4 September. This was effectively the end of Rene’s war and his playing career as he was invalided out of the army and shipped back to Australia on 21 December, 1918, six weeks after the armistice had been signed.
Rene married Valentine (Val) Arthur, two years his junior in 1922, and had two children, Barry and Justine. Rene became an electrician and lived until 1954. He was survived by his wife Val by almost three decades.