Paul Kelly (born 28 July 1969) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er, winner of the

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as "Charlie"), is awarded to the " best and fairest" player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by ...

and captain of the Sydney Swans for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous". Born in

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Kelly initially played

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 ...

for Wagga Brothers but turned to Australian rules football at age 15. Recruited to the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

by the Swans, Kelly made his debut in 1990 after being the best player in his school, and was appointed captain in 1993, won the Brownlow Medal (the AFL's highest individual honour) in 1995, won club best and fairests in 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1997,

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

selection in 1995, 1996 and 1997 (the last two as captain), and the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

's Robert Rose Award for Most Courageous Player in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 2000. Kelly led the Swans to the AFL Grand Final in 1996—its first since 1945—and was considered one of the best players in the competition during the mid-1990s, but from 1998 onwards was severely hampered by injuries. Kelly retired after 234 AFL games and served as the Swans runner in 2003 before retiring to his farm near Wagga Wagga. His autobiography, ''Swan Song'', was published in 2003 and covers the period until his retirement from football. His No. 14 jumper has since been retired for 5 years, before it was brought out again, this time to be worn by Craig Bird. In 2005, Kelly was on hand to present the premiership cup to Paul Roos and

Barry Hall Barry Hall (born 8 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club, Sydney Swans and Western Bulldogs in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is considered to be one of the be ...

after the Swans' nailbiting 4-point Grand Final win. In 2006, he presented the Brownlow Medal to former team mate,

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

. He was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

in July, 2007. Paul Kelly (the footballer) (7176553482)

Statistics

:Paul Kelly's player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 45 , , 10 , , 2 , , 4 , , 48 , , 43 , , 91 , , 15 , , 8 , , 0.2 , , 0.4 , , 4.8 , , 4.3 , , 9.1 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 20 , , 14 , , 20 , , 219 , , 173 , , 392 , , 52 , , 51 , , 0.7 , , 1.0 , , 11.0 , , 8.7 , , 19.6 , , 2.6 , , 2.6 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 22 , , 8 , , 16 , , 310 , , 216 , , 526 , , 63 , , 73 , , 0.4 , , 0.7 , , 14.1 , , 9.8 , , 23.9 , , 2.9 , , 3.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1993 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 20 , , 11 , , 6 , , 269 , , 153 , , 422 , , 55 , , 67 , , 0.6 , , 0.3 , , 13.5 , , 7.7 , , 21.1 , , 2.8 , , 3.4 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 18 , , 15 , , 12 , , 226 , , 206 , , 432 , , 70 , , 42 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 12.6 , , 11.4 , , 24.0 , , 3.9 , , 2.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 22 , , 15 , , 11 , , 285 , , 153 , , 438 , , 68 , , 77 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 13.0 , , 7.0 , , 19.9 , , 3.1 , , 3.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1996 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 25 , , 18 , , 13 , , 371 , , 205 , , 576 , , 128 , , 70 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 14.8 , , 8.2 , , 23.0 , , 5.1 , , 2.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1997 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 23 , , 26 , , 30 , , 376 , , 178 , , 554 , , 100 , , 40 , , 1.1 , , 1.3 , , 16.3 , , 7.7 , , 24.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.7 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1998 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 16 , , 27 , , 11 , , 229 , , 108 , , 337 , , 64 , , 28 , , 1.7 , , 0.7 , , 14.3 , , 6.8 , , 21.1 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 1999 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 21 , , 28 , , 25 , , 267 , , 137 , , 404 , , 86 , , 29 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 12.7 , , 6.5 , , 19.2 , , 4.1 , , 1.4 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 8 , , 10 , , 2 , , 67 , , 38 , , 105 , , 31 , , 16 , , 1.3 , , 0.3 , , 8.4 , , 4.8 , , 13.1 , , 3.9 , , 2.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2001 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 11 , , 13 , , 11 , , 117 , , 48 , , 165 , , 52 , , 28 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , 10.6 , , 4.4 , , 15.0 , , 4.7 , , 2.5 , -style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" , 2002 , style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 18 , , 13 , , 13 , , 200 , , 135 , , 335 , , 61 , , 65 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 11.1 , , 7.5 , , 18.6 , , 3.4 , , 3.6 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 234 ! 200 ! 174 ! 2984 ! 1793 ! 4777 ! 845 ! 594 ! 0.9 ! 0.7 ! 12.8 ! 7.7 ! 20.4 ! 3.6 ! 2.5

Honours and achievements

*Team **

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

(

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 ...

): 1996 *Individual **

: 1995 ** Bob Skilton Medal (Sydney Swans Best & Fairest): 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997 **

: 1995, 1996, 1997 ** AFLPA Best Captain Award: 1999 ** AFLPA Robert Rose Most Courageous Player Award: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000 ** Sydney Swans Captain: 1993-2002 ** Sydney Swans Team of the Century - Forward Pocket (Vice-Captain) **

inductee: 2007

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Paul 1969 births Living people Australian rules footballers from New South Wales Sydney Swans players Bob Skilton Medal winners All-Australians (AFL) Brownlow Medal winners Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Sportspeople from Wagga Wagga Australian people of Irish descent Allies State of Origin players New South Wales Australian rules football State of Origin players