Cyril Connell Jr.
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born | Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia | 4 May 1928||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 9 June 2009 Brisbane, Queensland, Australia | (aged 81)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playing information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Five-eighth, Centre | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Source: [1] |
Cyril Connell (born 4 May 1928 in
Biography
Playing career
A similar build to the diminutive Clive Churchill, Connell Junior debuted for Rockhampton Brothers in 1947. He linked with Toowoomba's Newtown team in 1950 where, under the guidance of noted coach Duncan Thompson, he secured a Queensland jumper. He wore the maroon jumper 25 times between 1952 and 1957.
Connell reached the pinnacle as a player when selected for Australia against New Zealand in 1956. He toured with the 1956-57 Kangaroos. While he failed to play a Test match against Great Britain, he played in 14 tour matches in England and France,[2] captaining the Australian team many times.
Scouting
Connell was a secondary school maths teacher at Brisbane State High School, where he befriended student and future rugby league player and administrator Paul Morgan. Connell worked his way up to deputy director of secondary education in Queensland. During the 1970s Connell also worked as a rugby league commentator for ABC Radio in Queensland.[3]
In 1990, Connell was chosen by
In 2007, the main training facility for the Brisbane Broncos, the Cyril Connell High Performance Centre, was named after him due to his years of service to the club. He died in 2009.[4]
References
- ^ Rugby League Project
- ^ "Queensland Representative Players". qrl.com.au. Queensland Rugby League. Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 17 September 2012.
- ISBN 9780730497646. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
- ISBN 9781864712735.
External links
- https://web.archive.org/web/20070930022225/http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=394000
- Whitaker, Alan; Hudson, Glen (2005). The encyclopedia of Rugby league players: Every Brisbane Player Ever. Bas Publishing.
- Queensland Representatives at qrl.com.au