Kerry Hemsley (born 10 May 1960) is an Australian former professional

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 1970s and 1980s. He played for the Balmain Tigers in the New South Wales Rugby League (NSWRL) competition, primarily as a . While playing for

Yanco Yanco is a village with a population of 505 in Leeton Shire in south western New South Wales, Australia. Yanco is a Wiradjuri aboriginal language word meaning ''the sound of running water''. Yanco is located from Leeton along Irrigation Way. ...

, Hemsley was selected to play for Riverina against the touring

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

side in 1979. Hemsley was recommended to Balmain by his Yanco captain-coach and former Tiger,

Keith Outten Keith Outten is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. Playing career A five-eighth, Outten played four seasons with Balmain between 1968 and 1971. During this period, he won a premiership with the Tig ...

. Hemsley spent nine seasons at Balmain, earning himself a reputation as an enforcer on the field and he became a club and crowd favourite with his long hair and beard. During the Australian off-seasons, Hemsley played in France for Le Pontet XIII in 1982–1983 and in England for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in 1983–84. He became the first Balmain player to appear at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

in a cup final when Wigan met and were defeated by Widnes Vikings. 1988 was to be Hemsley's last season with Balmain. Having made the semi-finals in the previous 2 seasons, Hemsley was out of the team from round 3, with coach Warren Ryan preferring other players. He returned only for the semis, after the suspension of Steve Roach. He started at prop for the 24–12 loss to Canterbury in the grand final. Following his retirement he played a further 8 years of bush football with

- Wamoon and Blayney.

References

Sources

* * 1960 births Living people Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Balmain Tigers players Rugby league players from Junee Rugby league props Wigan Warriors players Australian expatriate rugby league players in England {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1960s-stub