Bill Kelly (rugby league)

Bill Kelly
Kelly in 1939
Personal information
Full name William Martin Kelly
Nickname The Prince of Coaches[1]
Born 1892
Westport, New Zealand
Died 1975
Playing information
Position Centre
Club
Years Team Pld T G FG P
Athletic (WRL)
1914–1915 Balmain 27 16 0 0 48
Total 27 16 0 0 48
Representative
Years Team Pld T G FG P
19??–1913 Wellington
1912–1913 New Zealand
1914 Australia 1 0 0 0 0
1914–1915 New South Wales 3
Coaching information
Club
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1914–1915 Balmain 28 18 6 4 64
1923–1924 University 24 4 2 18 17
1936–1937 Newtown 22 11 0 11 50
1938–1943 Balmain 92 55 5 32 60
1944 St. George 15 9 0 6 60
1945 Canterbury 14 4 1 9 29
Total 195 101 14 80 52
Representative
Years Team Gms W D L W%
1932 New Zealand
1932 Auckland 1 0 0 1 0
Source: Yesterday's Hero, RLP and RLP

William (Bill) Martin Kelly (1892–1975), born in Westport, New Zealand was a rugby league football identity who enjoyed success in New Zealand and Australia as a player and coach in the first half of the 20th century. He played for Wellington, the Balmain Tigers, New South Wales and for both the New Zealand and Australian national sides. He also had a long coaching career with five different clubs in the NSWRFL in the 1920s and 30s and New Zealand in 1932.

Contents

Playing career

A Wellington representative, Kelly toured Australia in 1912 and 1913 with the New Zealand national side. No test matches were played with the Kiwis meeting New South Wales and Queensland and a number of regional sides. He played in Wellingtons 1913 victory over Auckland.[2]

He joined the Balmain Tigers in Sydney in 1914 and that same year made his sole international Test appearance as a centre for Australia in the first Test against England at the Royal Agricultural Ground.

He made further representative appearances for New South Wales in 1915 and captain-coached an undefeated Balmain Tigers side to the club's first premiership victory in season 1915. He was the first New Zealander to appear in an NSWRL grand final.[3]

War service

Kelly enlisted in the 1st AIF in 1916 in Sydney. He joined Machine Gun Company #9 and embarked for the Western Front on HMAT Benalla in May 1916. He was a Sergeant when he sustained wounds in Belgium which saw him repatriated in October 1917.

Coaching career

In 1932 Kelly returned to New Zealand. He coached both New Zealand and Auckland against the 1932 Great Britain team.[4]

Legacy

Since 1997 Australia and New Zealand have contested the Bill Kelly Memorial Cup which is awarded to the winner of transtasman tests.[5][6]

Sources

Footnotes

  1. ^ both the Whiticker and Heads/Middleton sources refer to this nickname
  2. ^ Lion Red 1988 Rugby League Annual, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1988. p.p.151-159
  3. ^ New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1998. p.203
  4. ^ Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909-2009, 2009. ISBN 9781869693664.
  5. ^ Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
  6. ^ "League: Kiwis wait to get hands on trophy". The New Zealand Herald. 14 November 2010. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10687570&ref=rss. Retrieved 20 September 2011. 

External links

Preceded by
Arthur Hennessy		 Coach
New Zealand Kiwis
1932		 Succeeded by
Thomas McClymont