Sport NSW has announced Sydney Swans icon, Paul Kelly, has been elevated to a Legend in the Hall of Champions of NSW Sport.
Kelly, considered one of the best AFL players of his era, becomes just the 25th NSW athlete to be elevated to NSW Legend Status.
As a NSW Hall of Champions Legend, Kelly joins the company of Sir Donald Bradman, Sir Jack Brabham, Dawn Fraser, Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Ken Rosewall and Keith Miller, who played Australian football and cricket for NSW.
Originally from Ardlethan in south-west NSW, Kelly played junior football with the Wagga Tigers, where he quickly graduated to senior ranks, winning the club's Best and Fairest Award in 1989 which he shared with his skipper Gerald Peiper.
Selected for the Sydney Swans in 1990, the midfielder played 234 games and kicked 200 goals until his retirement in 2002. He was named Sydney Swans Best and Fairest player four times and chosen in the All-Australian side for three successive years from 1995 to 1997.
Appointed captain in 1993, Kelly led the Swans through four finals series between 1996 and 1999 and remains the club’s longest serving captain. Nicknamed ‘Captain Courageous’, he was voted by his peers as the Most Courageous Player a record five times and was twice named All-Australian captain.
A fearless player with explosive speed, strong marking and fierce tackling, Kelly’s greatest individual honour came in 1995 winning the Brownlow Medal, awarded to the Best and Fairest player in the AFL national competition.
His legacy continues with the Paul Kelly Cup, the largest AFL primary school competition in NSW and the ACT. The Player’s Tunnel at the Sydney Cricket Ground is named The Paul Kelly Race in his honour.
Kelly was named on the Swans Team of the Century, in the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2007, and made a Legend of the NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2024.
He will be inducted at the prestigious NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony at The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont, on Monday, November 25. Information can be found here.
Paul Kelly
1990-2002
234 games
200 goals
Captain 1993-2002
Best & Fairest 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997
Brownlow Medal 1995
All-Australian 1995, 1996, 1997
Swans Team of the Century
NSW Greatest Team (Vice-captain)
AFL Hall of Fame
AFL NSW Hall of Fame Legend
Two finalists at NSW Sport Awards
The 2024 NSW Sport Awards will held at the same event of Paul Kelly's Legend induction, at the NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony. Australian Rules Football has two finalists in the 2024 NSW Sport Awards:
Official of the Year: Michael Barlow, the all Australian boundary umpire, who made his third Toyota AFL Grand Final appearance this year.
Event of the Year: The NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame Gala Dinner.
Thank you to NSW Australia Football History Society, which compiled information for Paul Kelly’s nomination.