Wagga’s own Paul Kelly will soon be recognised as a NSW Sporting Legend, becoming the 25th New South Welshman and first AFL footballer to receive the status in NSW later this month. Photo: Supplied/Sydney Swans.
Wagga’s own AFL hero Paul Kelly will soon be recognised as a national sporting icon after the NSW Hall of Champions announced he will be crowned a NSW Sporting Legend later this month.
Kelly was born in West Wyalong before being raised in Wagga Wagga where he turned to AFL at the age of 12. Kelly first played for the Wagga Tigers in the RFL, where he kicked 12 goals in his first game.
Despite his clear skill, his heart still lay with rugby league. It wasn’t until the future Australian Sporting Hall of Fame member (inducted in 2007) turned 15 that he returned to the sport after his local league club, the Wagga Brothers struggled to put an under-15s team together.
Kelly returned to the Tigers and played for several years while also completing his plumbing apprenticeship. Kelly eventually got a call from the Sydney Swans in 1989 asking him to join the squad for the 1990 season.
“I’m happy to give anything a go,” Kelly said in an interview with the Swans earlier this year.
“But I wasn’t overly keen about leaving home — I had a good job, I was enjoying my footy with the Tigers and enjoying life. Ultimately, my old man gave me a nudge. He’d been a really good sprinter and had the chance to go to the Stawell Gift. He didn’t go and always said, ‘I’ll never know’. So, I decided to give it a try.”
Kelly made his debut against the Carlton Blues, securing only a handful of possessions, but he quickly became a mainstay of the squad.
Kelly recalled the difficult early period of his career, not knowing if the Swans would be allowed to continue to compete in the AFL due to their administration history and 72 years without a premiership, a draught which ended in 2005.
“Thankfully, the AFL voted in favour of us continuing as a club (in 1992),” Kelly said.
“But there were some rough years ahead. The club had run out of steam, we couldn’t attract players, couldn’t attract sponsors. That was the time when we really hit rock bottom.”
Following potential collapse the year before, the Swans needed a strong leader to steer them into a new period, with all eyes shifting to Kelly.
“I wasn’t thinking about the captaincy at all,” Kelly recalled.
“I was only a young fella finding my feet, and I wasn’t ready for that. But I took it on, and it helped me as a player, setting standards and leading by example. It was an honour, it was good for me, but I definitely wasn’t ready.”
Kelly went on to play 182 games as Swans captain and won the 1995 Brownlow Medal for the league’s best player as adjudicated by the umpires.
He was named the 1996 and 1997 All-Australian captain and was voted the league’s most courageous player by his peers and opponents a record five times; he has also since been named in the Swan’s team of the century.
Kelly retired at the end of the 2002 season but was recognised by many Sydney supporters as the player who helped end the club’s losing run, resulting in the 2005 premiership only a few years later.
Paul Kelly will officially receive NSW Legend status on 25 November.
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