Noel Kelly (595) interview from MOL

Noel Kelly Story       by Martin Cook

They were two boys with talents and interests

poles apart but living under the one roof. The

world was at war but this odd pair shared a

wonderful mate ship and a great bond.

Their family didn’t have much, no one did in

those days, but the two boys lived life to the full

and made the most of their individually unique

yet equally brilliant talents.

The eldest boy Des was good looking and

had a wonderful gift for music. He could play

any instrument by ear and was the 1944 boy

soprano champion of Queensland.

Noel was 1 year and 10 months younger and

he preferred the more virile pursuits. Des Kelly’s

passion was for singing, playing the piano and

performing at the local dances while Noel ‘Ned’

Kelly preferred to catch fish, chase horses, play

football or do whatever he could to earn a quid.

When he was 12 he ran away from home to

work so he could pay for his boxing training.

“Des inherited the musical gene from my mother

who had a three piece dance band. She played

at all the weddings, 21sts and engagements at

the local dance hall. She lived till she was 86

and was still playing till she died.

“I was more like the old man, a bit of a rascal

and a scallywag.

“I ran away from home when I was 12 and

started an ice run,” says Noel as he remembers

1940s life in the tiny Queensland town of

Goodna, “I always did the ice run, the bread

run, the grocery run, whatever I could to earn

a quid.

Hearing of Noel Kelly’s struggles through

adolescence, it’s not hard to realise he had to

be tough to survive. He had to grow up quickly.

“All I wanted to do was fight. Dick Gunthorpe

had a gym under his house so I used to go there

two nights a week to train.”

“As well as the ice run, I was getting 10 bob

a week to do the paper run on a horse – I ride

20 kms in the morning and 20kms after school

– but my mother used to take that. Even when I

was living away, I always used to put in at home”

After a period of living with Mr Lynch, “the bloke

who had the ice run”, Noel returned home to

help his mother.

An average day for a young Noel Kelly consisted

of a morning jog to keep fit for football, the

20km paper run on horseback, the ice run, a

boxing session at Dick Gunthorpe’s gym and

schoolwork somewhere in between.

Already this workaholic is developing the habit

that would not only see him go on to become

the greatest hooker of all time but also a brilliant

businessman. Hark work.

At 14 Noel landed his dream apprenticeship

as a fitter and turner at Norman Park but the

position was short lived.

“The company folded not long after I started so

my Dad stuck me in the butchers shop he had

just opened at Wacol.

“It wasn’t long before I was in the butchers shop

and he was up at the pub!

“After a couple of years, Dad left the shop. He

was successful and earned a few dollars but the

grog and the punt got the better of him and he

left home as well.

“When the old man went it fell back on me a bit

at home. But it never worried me because I was

always a kid looking to earn a few bob.

Meanwhile Des was doing his bit, getting work

performing at the local pub. Noel and Des

stayed close:

“We were totally good mates,” recalls Noel of

his opposite brother Des. “He’d play the piano

at the pub and I’d sneak in behind the curtains,

everyone would be buying him a beer and I’d be

drinking them! It was great.”

Ned persisted with his butchers trade and finished

his apprenticeship at Red Hill in Brisbane.

“I used to travel 20 miles daily to and from work.

I started travelling by train and tram and then

scratched together some money and bought a

1200 Indian with a side car. The side car was

so big you could get a five gallon keg and four

blokes in it. We’d drink beer on the way to the

pictures every weekend.”

Now that he was earning a few dollars, Noel

admits he was probably heading down the

wayward path when in 1956 he was called up

for compulsory national service in Wacol.

“I reckon national service got me at the right

time. I only spent three months there but it sorted

me out. I was a bit wild and it taught me a lot

about discipline.

“They still should have compulsory national

service for the kids today.”

At the end of 1956, Noel was only 20 but had

a lifetime of experience and things were looking

bright. He had completed his apprenticeship

and was a qualified butcher, he met his beautiful

wife Chris, who became his calming influence,

and he was playing good football with Railways

in the Ipswich competition.

Just when life was on the up, tragedy struck.

Noel’s best mate was taken on the eve of his

wedding day.

“My brother was due to get married on Saturday

and he died on the Friday night.

“He was never a horse person and he drove one

of the first Holdens that came out. He rolled it

at Harrisville.”

Noel and Chris were engaged to be married at

21, two weeks after Des’s wedding date.

“He would have wanted us to get married so

what do you do?”

In spite of the tragedy, Noel got married and

he and Chris are still going strong 52 years on.

Seeing the hardship Noel had overcome, you

start to understand the mental strength and

physical toughness that makes up this uniquely

compassionate gentleman.

So much had happened to Noel Kelly off the

field in 1957 and the year also marked a turning

point in his Rugby League career. Ipswich, with

Kelly at hooker, won the time honoured Bulimba

Cup, a representative competition held between

Brisbane, Toowoomba and Ipswich. But Kelly

wasn’t happy with his form.

“That year I played for Railways but I couldn’t

handle it because as a butcher you were always

working late and kept missing training so I went

across to Brothers, coached by Dan Dempsey

and Gary Parcell was there.”

Ipswich won back to back Bulimba Cups in

1958, and then in 1959 Noel Kelly started

the road to Rugby League greatness. He made

the Queensland team, along with his Ipswich

front rowers Dud Beattie and Garry Parcell.

Queensland beat the more fancied NSW team

and Kelly began changing the way hookers

played the Game.

“When Ian Walsh and I came to the game in

1959, when NSW played Qld, we showed

that hookers can run the ball as well. Before

that, hookers were good ball winners – they

didn’t have to run - the scrum results printed in

Monday morning’s paper decided who was the

best hooker.”

Kelly was then selected to make his Test debut

against New Zealand, a series Australia

won 3-0. The Ipswich front row of Kelly, Dud

Beattie and Gary Parcell were all selected on

the end of season Kangaroo Tour. The 1959-

60 Kangaroos were the last touring party not

to return with the Ashes but they were unlucky

not to win the series and Kelly would have his

chance to make amends in four years time.

“We were an inexperienced group but this

side became the nucleus of the 1963 squad.

It was probably my favourite tour of the three.

Especially coming from the scrub. I had been to

Brisbane and Sydney, but only to play football.

We got a chance to see the world.”

Kelly returned from the tour and signed with Ayr

in 1960. While living in North Queensland, he

met Jim Sharman when his boxing troupe came

through town. Ned agreed to fight the cook

from Sharman’s Troupe and in return, Sharman

agreed to put Ned in contact with Bill Beaver at

Western Suburbs in Sydney.

“Jim spoke to Bill Beaver at Wests and the next

thing you know, Chris and I are in the old ute

with our two kids on our way to NSW,” Kelly

recalls.

“My life in Queensland was eventful but I

wouldn’t swap it for quids. The place I lived at

in Goodna was a beautiful house on the river

with a football field. There’s certainly plenty of

memories there.”

Life across the border didn’t start to well for

the Kellys. “I got pinched at Guyra at 6am for

speeding. I didn’t think my old ute would do 60

miles but this old copper reckons it would.

“Then when I came to Sydney I was supposed to

get a house and a job. There was no good news

– never had a house and never had a job. The

licencee of the Narrabeen Hotel was a patron

of Wests and said I could stay there till I found

a house – so that’s how I came to the Northern

Beaches.

“When I got there Denis Meany, Bill Delamare

and Colin ‘Iggy’ Burns were all having a beer.

They all made me feel very welcome and I

haven’t left the area in 48 years.

While football was important for Ned, so

too was providing for his growing family. This

workaholic just couldn’t help himself. On top

of playing Rugby League at the highest level,

Kelly worked at the pub picking up glasses, as

a butcher and on weekends in the summer at

the Manly Wharf Amusement Park: “I drove the

ghost train, worked the merry–go–round or ran

the knock ’em down stall.”

Kelly’s deal at Wests was supposed to include

accommodation: “We got sick of waiting for

Wests to get me a house that never came so I

went to Colaroy Plateau and put a deposit on

a house and Wests then helped me out with a

loan.

“I remember saying to Chris when I opened the

back door to see the Pacific Ocean - ‘I didn’t

think they had beaches in Sydney’. I’ve only had

one change of address since and that was just

around the corner.”

Kelly signed a three year contract with Wests

and the Magpies went on to be the team most

likely to break the Dragons 11 straight run.

Kelly played in the three straight grand finals

for Wests against the all-mighty Dragons, going

down 22-0 in 1961, bridging the gap to 9-6

in the 1962 decider and by 1963; Wests were

arguably the better team.

Wests beat St George three times during the

1963 season, including a 10-8 win the major

semi final and were tipped by many to break the

Dragons stranglehold. The match is the most

famous grand finale of all time, thanks to John

O’Gready’s brilliant snap of ‘The Gladiators’ -

Arthur Summons and Norm Provan walking from

the field. It is also one of the most controversial

and talked about grand finals, thanks to the

involvement of referee Darcey Lawler.

The 1963 decider was played on a mud bath at

the SCG and St George claimed an 8-3 victory

thanks to an 18-7 penalty count a controversial

try to Johnny King when referee Lawler said “play

on” after it appeared he was held. It is alleged

Lawler was involved in a £600 bet being placed

on St George to win the match. The pain still

simmers inside Kelly some 46 years on but he

now believes “enough has been said on that.”

Despite the Magpies misfortune at club level,

Noel Kelly experienced great success at

international level. He returned to England with

the Kangaroos in 1963 and they became the first

team to bring home the Ashes since the 1911-12

touring party, captained by Chris McKivat. The

squad was star studded and included the likes

of Gasnier, Hambly, Irvine, Johns, Langlands,

Raper, Cleary, Dimond, Earl Harrison, Paul

Quinn and Dick and Ken Thornett.

Australia trounced England in the first two Tests

28-2 and 52-12 but the third desecrated into an

all in brawling blood bath and England won the

dead rubber.

After the 1963 tour, Kelly signed on with Wests

for another three years. In stark contrast to the

professional footballers of today, Kelly continued

to hold down three jobs whilst playing the

Game. Over the years he worked as a butcher

at the Corso in Manly and at Mosman and

Jack Gibson talked him into working as the bar

manager at the Burlington at Haymarket:

“I’d have about three fights before 8am every

morning – it was a rough house but we cleaned

it out a bit.”

In 1966, Wests offered Ned another three year

deal, this time as captain coach. This period

became known as the ‘Kelly’s Kids’ era and Noel

Kelly gained cult status. A website by Tony Lewis

and the late Greg Willis - www.noelkellyskids.

info – has been dedicated to Noel Kelly and how

he over saw a change in era at Wests, from the

likes of Denis Meaney, Peter Dimond, Don Parish

and John Mowbray through to Mick Alchin, 

Jim Cody, Barry Glasgow and Tony Ford.

In 1967 Ned became the first hooker/prop to

make three consecutive Kangaroo Tours. The

team was captain-coached by Reg Gasnier

and included Tony Branson, Coote, Goldspink,

Irvine, Langlands, Moore, Raper, Sattler and

Billy Smith.

Australia went down 16-11 in the first Test,

which turned out to be Reg Gasnier’s last in

the green and gold as he fractured his leg. Billy

Smith and John Raper also missed the second

Test due to injury. The match was played at

White City Stadium and it was a must win

situation for the Kangaroos. They were well

served by Coote and Branson on debut as well

as King and Langlands but the game was in the

balance until Kelly squared up on the Lions’

“number 10”.

“I had just unloaded the ball when I was belted

across the nose from the side. There was

blood and tears in my eyes and I went down

to the ground. I said to Pedro (Peter) Gallagher,

‘who got me Pedro?’ Pedro was Gallagher was

a peace loving citizen, getting into a blue wasn’t

his go - in other words he wasn’t as mad as me!

Pedro said, ‘I don’t know Ned’. So I said ‘you’d

want to know or I’ll put one on you!’ He said ‘it

was number 10.’ So I lined him up and hit him

with one of the best coat-hangers and belted

him again as I was getting up. After that, poor

old Pedro came over and said, ‘I didn’t know

it was number 10, I just said so to get you off

my back!’ Poor old number 10 was Bob Irving. I

met him after the game; he was a hell of a nice

bloke”

After the 1967 tour, Noel returned home and

he and Chris started to grow their burgeoning

business interests.

“Before the tour I sold Holdens with Terry Fearnley

and I loved that job but I got an offer from Jack

Honan who owned Manildra Flour Mills. While I

was working there I started a bacon factory. We

put a couple of trucks on the road selling bacon,

ham and small goods and called it ‘Noel Kelly’s

Gem of the West’. I was in that for a couple of

years – was a great business.

“After the small goods I bought two butcher’s

shops. One off John Dorahey at Colaroy Plateu

and another at French’s Forest and I built them

both up – sold them a couple of years later and

my eldest son Greg and I started ‘Noel Kelly and

Sons’ and went into the House Boat business.

We didn’t buy a business, just bought two boats,

built the business up and sold it seven years later

and I retired.

“All the way through Chris and I were having a

sneaky dabble in real estate and any property I

saw that I could pull more than one rent out of, I’d

buy it. I worked pretty hard and Chris did a great

j o b

keeping the books – it was a good combination.”

Noel’s hard work and Chris’ business nous

certainly paid off. Their off field success began

to reflect the outstanding success Noel achieved

on the Rugby League paddock.

In 2008 Noel received the highest honour in the

Game when named in the Team of the Century

at hooker. Deserving recognition for a man

who played 24 Tests, eight interstate games for

Queensland, six for NSW and 117 games for

the might Wests Magpies.

Ned was tough, as suggested by his record of 17

career send-offs. But his toughness is more about

the ability to roll up the sleeves and get stuck

in. To be the first hooker/prop to make three

Kangaroo tours needs versatility and resilience.

Kelly was 32 when he toured in 1968 and when

Elwyn Walters was injured, Ned played five

games in 12 days. The Kangaroos won them all

and he picked up man of the match in the 5th.

After retiring, Ned had a stint in Wollongong

and three years coaching the North Sydney

Bears. These days he’s still keeping himself busy

– he can’t help it.

When he’s not doing the maintenance on his

properties, the Men of League national board

member is driving across the countryside visiting

our members doing it tough in hospitals and

nursing homes. Ned’s natural charisma is

perfect for a cheer up for the less fortunate –

and he knows a thing or two about overcoming

adversity.

He’s an absolute treasure of the Men of League

and to the Game of Rugby League and a

deserving Men of League Honouree

To become a Men of League member

just click onto the link below

www.menofleague.com

 By Martin Cook

Noel Kellys Kids, a website by Tony Lewis, Greg Willis and Steve Lothian honouring Rugby League Legend Noel Kelly and the Western Suburbs Magpies from 1966 to 1969. Noel Kelly,Captain Coach of the Western Suburbs Rugby League Club. The site involves statistics, photos, with interviews from West greats.