Kelvin Joseph "Kel" O'Shea (13 July 1933 – 22 January 2015) was an Australian representative
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer, a
second-rower from
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
whose club career was played with the
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...
in Sydney. He is rated among the nation's best players of the 20th century.
Club career
O'Shea first came to prominence from Queensland in 1954 when while playing for Ayr Colts he was selected for
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. He remained in Queensland for the 1955 season but in 1956 accepted an offer to move to Sydney to join
the
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...
who at that time were buying up a talent roster including
Arthur Summons,
Harry Wells,
Dick Poole and
Ian Moir in their pursuit of an elusive premiership title – an approach which earned the club their tag as "the Millionaires".
He played in three of the Magpies' four
Grand final
Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...
losses to
St.George:
1958;
1961 and
1963
Events January
* January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...
.
O'Shea left Wests for Newcastle at the end of 1963 and came out of retirement in 1965 to captain-coach Maitland in 1965. Playing in the Newcastle Grand final he converted his club's winning try after the bell as spectators invaded the field.
Representative career
He debuted for
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
in 1954 called into the forward pack to partner
Norm Provan
Norman Douglas Somerville Provan (18 December 1932 – 13 October 2021) was an Australian professional rugby league footballer and coach. Also nicknamed "Sticks", he was a second-row forward with the St. George Dragons during the first ten of ...
against the touring British Lions. Over the next four years, O'Shea and Provan formed a solid partnership that saw them represent against all of the rugby league playing nations.
O'Shea first represented for
New South Wales
New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
in 1956 after moving to Wests. He played against
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
in 1956 Trans-Tasman series and at the end of that year was selected for the
Kangaroos playing in all six Tests and eight minor matches of the 1956-57
Kangaroo tour.
He played against
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
in the 1954
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
campaign and in 1957 was a member of Australia's victorious World Cup squad. All up O'Shea made fifteen Test and five
World Cup
A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...
appearances for his country.
Accolades
In 2004, O'Shea was named at second-row in the
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...
team of the century.
In 2007, O'Shea was selected by a panel of experts at second-row in an Australian 'Team of the 50s'.
In February 2008, O'Shea was named in the list of Australia's
''100 Greatest Players'' (1908–2007) which was commissioned by the
NRL and
ARL to celebrate the code's centenary year in Australia. In 2009, he was inducted into th
Queensland Sport Hall of Famefor his achievements in Rugby League.
Death
Kel O'Shea died on 22 January 2015, aged 81.
Kangaroos Great Kel Oshea Who Linked With Norm Provan Is Mourned
''The Courier Mail''
Sources
* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'' Austn Broadcasting Corporation, Sydney, AUS
* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney, AUS
Kelvin O'Shea profile
nqsports.com.au; Retrieved 10 September 2014.
Footnotes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oshea, Kel
1933 births
2015 deaths
Sportspeople from Ayr, Queensland
Australian rugby league players
Queensland rugby league team players
New South Wales rugby league team players
City New South Wales rugby league team players
Western Suburbs Magpies players
Maitland Pickers players
Australia national rugby league team players
Rugby league players from Queensland
Rugby league second-rows
20th-century Australian sportsmen