Barry O'Connell (

Paddington Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Paddi ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

), is an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer who played in the 1950s 1960s. He played in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) is the governing body of rugby league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Commission. It was formed in Sydney on 8 August 1907 and was ...

(NSWRL) - Australia's major competition in that sport.

Biography

Barry was one of three O'Connell brothers to play for the

Eastern Suburbs Eastern Suburbs may refer to: Places *Eastern Suburbs (Mumbai), India *Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Australia **Eastern Suburbs railway line, Sydney, Australia Sports clubs ;Association football *Eastern Suburbs AFC, Auckland, New Zealand * Eastern ...

club in the

(NSWRL), older brother

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captained Australia in that sport. O'Connell attended

Waverley Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stree ...

primary and Paddington technical college. O'Connell, who played in the

halves One half (plural, : halves) is the irreducible fraction resulting from dividing 1 (number), one by 2 (number), two or the fraction resulting from dividing any number by its double. Multiplication by one half is equivalent to division by tw ...

, was an Easts junior who debuted with the club in the 1956 at the age of 19. In the years 1956–59, he scored 177 points from 11 tries and 72

field goal A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ba ...

, he made around 60 appearances for the Eastern Suburbs club, many as captain. In 1960, Barry joined the Manly Warrigah club, playing 85 matches, many of those also as captain. He played for Manly in the years 1960–64. After leaving Manly he took up a role as a captain-coach in the rural NSW town of

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gover ...

. His final year of rugby league, 1967, was spent captaining the

Dunedoo Dunedoo ( ) is a village of 1,021 inhabitants situated within the Warrumbungle Shire of central western New South Wales, Australia. Dunedoo is well known to Australian travellers due to its distinctive name (''Dunny'' is a colloquial Australian ...

club, who played in the

Group 14 The carbon group is a group (periodic table), periodic table group consisting of carbon (C), silicon (Si), germanium (Ge), tin (Sn), lead (Pb), and flerovium (Fl). It lies within the p-block. In modern International Union of Pure and Applied Chem ...

competition, to their first premiership, and was named as that competition's leading player.

References

* Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Sydney Roosters players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles captains Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Rugby league players from Sydney {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-stub