Sydney Swans Bloods Legend Paul Kelly, will be officially recognised as a Legend of NSW Sport at the prestigious NSW Champions of Sport Ceremony at The Star Event Centre, Pyrmont, on Monday, November 25.
Kelly, considered one of the best AFL players of the mid-1990s, becomes the 25th NSW athlete and the first AFL player 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 Louise Sauvage and others in the highest echelon of NSW sport.
From NSW’s Riverina district, 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.
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, inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2007, and made a Legend of the NSW Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2024.
The NSW Hall of Champions is located at Quaycentre at Sydney Olympic Park.
