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Bill Kelly

Kelly in 1939
Personal information
Full name	William Martin Kelly
Born	1892 Westport, New Zealand
Died	1 July 1975 (aged 82–83) Killara, New South Wales
Playing information
Rugby union
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1909–10 Westport Rivals 1911 Poneke 12 4 0 0 12 1912 Athletic 6 1 0 0 3 Total 18 5 0 0 15 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1910 Buller 2 1 0 0 3 1911 Wellington 1 0 0 0 0
Rugby league
Position	Centre, Stand-off
Club Years Team Pld T G FG P 1912–13 Athletic (WRL) 11 6 0 0 18 1914–15 Balmain 27 16 0 0 48 Total 38 22 0 0 66 Representative Years Team Pld T G FG P 1912–13 Wellington 12 7 1 0 23 1912–13 New Zealand 14 13 0 0 39 1914 Metropolis 3 2 0 0 6 1914–15 New South Wales 3 1 0 0 3 1914 Australia 1 0 0 0 0
Coaching information
Club Years Team Gms W D L W% 1914–15 Balmain 28 18 6 4 64 1923–24 University 24 4 2 18 17 1936–37 Newtown 22 11 0 11 50 1938–43 Balmain 92 55 5 32 60 1944 St. George 15 9 0 6 60 1945 Canterbury-Bankstown 14 4 1 9 29 Total 195 101 14 80 52 Representative Years Team Gms W D L W% 1932 New Zealand 3 0 0 3 0 1932 Auckland 1 0 0 1 0
Source:

William Martin Kelly (1892–1975), born in Westport, New Zealand was a rugby league football identity who enjoyed success in New Zealand and Australia as both 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, 1930s and 1940s, and with New Zealand in 1932.

Early years

Born in Westport, Kelly played first class rugby union for Buller when he was 18 and later represented Wellington.

Playing career

He began playing rugby union for the Westport Rivals club in 1909. In 1910 he was again playing for them and at the end of the season he was selected to play for Buller. His debut representative match for them was against West Coast on September 10. Buller lost 16-0 with Kelly at five eighth. 3 days later he played against Inangahua and scored a try in a 6-3 loss. He then moved to Wellington. Kelly switched to rugby league with the launch of the Wellington Rugby League competition in 1912 and played for Athletic in their grand final loss to Petone.

He became a Wellington representative and 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.

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 is listed on the Australian Players Register as Kangaroo No. 90.

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.

War service

Kelly enlisted in the 1st AIF in 1916 in Sydney. He joined Machine Gun Company No. 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

Kelly turned to coaching Sydney teams and guided the Balmain Tigers to the 1939 NSWRL premiership. He coached University (1923–1924), Newtown (1936–1937), Balmain Tigers (1938–1943), St. George Dragons (1944) and Canterbury Bankstown in 1945. After such a long coaching career, Billy Kelly was widely known as the Prince of Coaches.

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

Legacy

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

In 2012 he was named in the Wellington Rugby League's Team of the Century.

Sources

• Whiticker, Alan & Collis, Ian (2006) The History of Rugby League Clubs, New Holland, Sydney
• Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players, Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney
• Heads, Ian and Middleton, David (2008) A Centenary of Rugby League, MacMillan Sydney
• Andrews, Malcolm (2006) The ABC of Rugby League Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney

Footnotes

1. Yesterday's Hero
2. "Statistics at rugbyleagueproject.org". rugbyleagueproject.org. 31 December 2017. Retrieved 1 January 2018.
3. both the Whiticker and Heads/Middleton sources refer to this nickname
4. "None". Grey River Argus. 10 April 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
5. Team of the Century-Week 3 Wellington Rugby League
6. Lion Red 1988 Rugby League Annual, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1988. p.p.151-159
7. ARL Annual Report, page 52
8. New Zealand Rugby League Annual '98, New Zealand Rugby Football League, 1998. p.203
9. Rugby League Project & Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players
10. Straight Between the posts by Frank Hyde
11. Coffey, John and Bernie Wood Auckland, 100 years of rugby league, 1909–2009, 2009. ISBN 978-1-86969-366-4.
12. Coffey and Wood The Kiwis: 100 Years of International Rugby League ISBN 1-86971-090-8
13. "League: Kiwis wait to get hands on trophy". The New Zealand Herald. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 20 September 2011.

External links

• Bill Kelly at the AIF Project

Sporting positions
Preceded byRon Bailey 1944	Coach Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 1945	Succeeded byRoss McKinnon 1946–1947
Preceded byNeville Smith 1943	Coach St George 1944	Succeeded byPercy Williams 1945
Preceded byHarold Matthews 1937	Coach Balmain 1938-1943	Succeeded byNorm Robinson 1944-1947
Preceded byCharles Russell 1933	Coach Newtown 1936-1937	Succeeded byFrank Burge 1940
Preceded byRobert Graves 1908-1913	Coach Balmain 1914-1915	Succeeded byArthur Halloway 1916-1920

Coaching positions

v t e Balmain Tigers head coaches 1908–13 Robert Graves 1914–15 Bill Kelly 1916–20 Arthur Halloway 1921–24 Charles Fraser 1925–29 Alf Fraser 1929 Reg Latta 1930 Norm Robinson 1930 Cec Fifield 1931 Reg Latta 1932 Charles Fraser 1933–34 George Robinson 1935–36 Joe Busch 1937 Harold Matthews 1938–43 Bill Kelly 1944–47 Norm Robinson 1948–50 Athol Smith 1951 Jim Duckworth 1952–53 Arthur Patton 1954–56 Norm Robinson 1957 Sid Ryan 1958–60 John O'Toole 1961–66 Harry Bath 1967–68 Keith Barnes 1969–73 Leo Nosworthy 1974 Alan Mason 1975–76 Paul Broughton 1977–79 Ron Willey 1980 Dennis Tutty 1981–86 Frank Stanton 1987 Bill Anderson 1988–90 Warren Ryan 1991–93 Alan Jones 1994–99 Wayne Pearce v t e New Zealand national rugby league team coaches 1912-20 George A. Gillett 1921-24 Jim Rukutai 1925 Charlie Pearce 1926-27 Ernest Mair 1928 Thomas McClymont 1930-31 Arthur Hennessy 1932-37 Bill Kelly 1938-52 Thomas McClymont 1952-54 Jim Amos 1955-56 Harold Tetley 1956-57 Bill Telford 1959-60 Travers Hardwick 1961 Des White 1961-63 Bill Telford 1964-65 Maurie Robertson 1965 Bill Telford 1966-67 Lory Blanchard 1968 Des Barchard 1969 Lory Blanchard 1970 Morrie Church 1970-72 Lory Blanchard 1972 Des Barchard 1974-75 George Menzies 1977-78 Ron Ackland 1979-82 Ces Mountford 1983-86 Graham Lowe 1987-89 Tony Gordon 1990-91 Bob Bailey 1992-93 Howie Tamati 1995-96 Frank Endacott 1997 Graeme Norton 1998-00 Frank Endacott 2001-02 Gary Freeman 2004-05 Daniel Anderson 2005-07 Brian McClennan 2007 Gary Kemble 2008-16 Stephen Kearney 2016-17 David Kidwell 2018-23 Michael Maguire 2024-present Stacey Jones

• 1892 births
• 1975 deaths
• Auckland rugby league team coaches
• Australia national rugby league team players
• Balmain Tigers coaches
• Balmain Tigers players
• Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs coaches
• New South Wales rugby league team players
• New Zealand military personnel of World War I
• New Zealand national rugby league team coaches
• New Zealand national rugby league team players
• New Zealand rugby league coaches
• New Zealand rugby league players
• Newtown Jets coaches
• Rugby league centres
• Rugby league players from Westport, New Zealand
• Rugby union players from Westport, New Zealand
• St. George Dragons coaches
• Wellington rugby league team players