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Ross Lindsay Birrell (17 December 1948 - 16 March 2015) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer who played for the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

Biography

Born in 1948, Birrell started out as rugby union player and toured overseas with the Emerging Wallabies team, before making the switch to rugby league.

Birrell was a member of South Sydney's first-grade team from 1972 to 1975, playing as a centre, fullback and winger. Occasionally he served as the team's goalkicker and amassed 17-points in a win over Balmain in 1972. During his time at South Sydney he also had a stint in England with Hull Kingston Rovers.

In 1976 he left South Sydney to coach the Wagga Magpies.

Birrell died from cancer in 2015, at the age of 66. A real estate agent, he was the founder of Thornton Realty in Maitland, which he had established in 1996.

References

1. Collis, Ian (2018). The A to Z of Rugby League Players. New Holland Publishers. ISBN 9781921024986.
2. "Ross L. Birrell". ESPNscrum.
3. "South Sydney into finals". The Canberra Times. 14 August 1972. p. 15. Retrieved 2 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
4. "Birrell joins Rovers RL club". Sydney Morning Herald. 30 August 1973.
5. "Brentnall in Wagga line-up at Seiffert". The Canberra Times. 12 February 1976. p. 22. Retrieved 2 June 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
6. Norris, Sam (30 March 2015). "Obituary: Real estate industry bids farewell to Rossco". The Maitland Mercury.

External links

• Ross Birrell at Rugby League project

• 1949 births
• 2015 deaths
• Australian rugby league players
• Hull Kingston Rovers players
• Rugby league centres
• Rugby league fullbacks
• Rugby league wingers
• South Sydney Rabbitohs players
• Australian rugby union players
• New South Wales rugby union team players
• Footballers who switched code