Leo Patrick Devereaux O'Connor (11 April 1890 – 16 January 1985) was an Australian

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

er and

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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er. Best known for cricket, he captained and kept wicket for

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 ...

in the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams representing the six states of Australia. The Sheffield Shield is named after Henry Holroyd, 3rd Earl of Sheffield, Lor ...

. However he also played 10 games with

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers or colloquially the Dons, is a professional Australian rules football club that plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCrac ...

and was captain of the

Queensland Australian rules football team In Queensland, Australian rules football (known mainly as "AFL") dates back to the colonial era in 1866, with organised competitions being continuous since the 1900s. Today, it is most popular in South East Queensland and the Cairns Region. The ...

between 1919-1922. He was the first person to captain Queensland in both Australian rules football and cricket. His son, Brian O'Connor, also played both cricket and Australian rules football for Queensland.

Early life and football

Raised in

Warracknabeal, Victoria Warracknabeal ( ) is a town in the Australian state of Victoria, located in the Victorian wheatbelt. Situated on the banks of the Yarriambiack Creek, 330 km northwest of Melbourne, it is the business and services centre of the northern Wi ...

he debuted with

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

in the VFL in 1910 before moving to Queensland in 1911 where he captained the Valleys team in the

Queensland Australian Football League The Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL or "Q-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football competition organised by the AFL Queensland, contested by clubs from South East Queensland. Founded in 1903 it was previously known as the Queens ...

from 1919-24. He was named captain of the Queensland team between 1919 and 1922.

Cricket

He made his first appearance for Queensland in 1913 and was a regular for the state whenever they played a first class match over the following decade and a half. When Queensland made their Sheffield Shield debut in 1926-27 O'Connor was named as their inaugural captain. Their first game was against

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 ...

at Brisbane and with Queensland set 400 to win in the 4th innings he opened the batting and made 196 before being run out. He had been the last wicket to fall and Queensland fell just 8 runs short of the target. Queensland travelled to Sydney the following week to play their away fixture and O'Connor scored a century in both innings, thus becoming the first Queenslander to do so in Shield history. It would be a good season for O'Connor with the bat, he finished with 731 runs at 66.45.

Notes

References

* Maplestone, M., ''Flying Higher: History of the Essendon Football Club 1872–1996'', Essendon Football Club, (Melbourne), 1996.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, Leo 1890 births 1985 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents Essendon Football Club players Australian cricketers Queensland cricketers Queensland cricket captains Cricketers from Victoria (state) Wicket-keepers 20th-century Australian sportsmen