| Personal information | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Kelly | |||||
| Nickname | Jack | |||||
| Born | Leeds, England | |||||
| Playing information | ||||||
| Rugby union | ||||||
| Position | Fullback | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| ≤1938–1938 | Bramley Old Boys RUFC | |||||
| Rugby league | ||||||
| Position | Fullback | |||||
| Club | ||||||
| Years | Team | Pld | T | G | FG | P |
| 1938–≥1938 | Leeds | 83 | ||||
| 1941–1941 | St. Helens | 1 | ||||
| Total | 84 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Source: leedsrugby.dnsupdate.co.uk | ||||||
John "Jack" Kelly is an English former rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1930s and '40s who at club level has played rugby union (RU) for Bramley Old Boys RUFC, playing at Fullback, i.e. number 15, and at club level has played rugby league (RL) for Leeds, and St. Helens (one match when a man short) playing at Fullback, i.e. number 1.[1]
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On Christmas Eve in 1938 Leeds played Salford at Headingley Stadium. However, because the rugby pitch was frozen, the match was switched to the cricket field. Vic Hey scored the only try of the match, and Jack Kelly became the only player to ever kick a goal on the cricket pitch in a 5-0 win. He spent most of his career at Leeds behind Charles "Charlie" Eaton for the Fullback position, but he still managed to play in 83 matches, mainly during the Emergency Leagues throughout World War II. On 6 December 1941 Leeds played St. Helens at Headingley Stadium, the St. Helens team was a man short, so Jack Kelly played as a stand-in Left-Wing for them.
Someone named Jack Kelly played rugby league for Wests, and North Sydney during the 1920s and '30s, and someone named J Kelly played rugby league for Newtown Bluebags during the 1940s, these footballers are unlikely to be this Jack Kelly.