Adrian Tremain Shelford (4 January 1964 – 19 September 2003) was a New Zealand

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. He played at representative level for

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, and at club level for

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

and

Wakefield Trinity Wakefield Trinity is a professional rugby league club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home fixtures at the DIY Kitchen Stadium, Belle Vue (Wakefield), Belle Vue and currently compete in the Super League, the top tier o ...

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

as well as the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

and

Manly Sea Eagles The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles are an Australian professional rugby league club based in Sydney's Northern Beaches. They compete in the National Rugby League (NRL). The Manly club debuted in the 1947 New South Wales Rugby Football League seaso ...

in the

NSWRL Premiership The New South Wales Rugby League premiership was the first rugby league football club competition established in Australia and contributor to today's National Rugby League. Run by the New South Wales Rugby League (initially named the New Sout ...

, as a .

Background

Shelford was born in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand.

Early years

Shelford played for Hornby and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

before moving to Wellington to advance his career. He was named the

Canterbury Rugby League Canterbury Rugby League is the regional body that administers rugby league in Canterbury, New Zealand. CRL manages local competitions from senior level down to age group competitions. Canterbury Rugby League also manages the Canterbury rugby le ...

Player of the Year in 1984. He made the Junior Kiwis in 1982 and 1983.Coffey, John. ''Canterbury XIII'', Christchurch, 1987. In Wellington, Shelford joined the Upper Hutt Tigers.

Professional career

Shelford moved to England in 1987 with both St Helens R.F.C. and

claiming to have secured his signature. Shelford eventually joined Wigan after it was ruled by the High Court that he had not entered into a binding commitment to play for Saints. He appeared in 21 matches for Wigan and was part of the

Challenge Cup The Rugby Football League Challenge Cup, commonly known just as the Challenge Cup is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout rugby league cup competition organised by the Rugby Football League, held annually since 1896, it is the world's old ...

winning side that beat Halifax 32–12 before 94,273 spectators at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. After a short stint with the

during the 1988 season, he was back at Wigan. He played in 40 games during the 1988–89 season, the most matches by any player at the club. Shelford featured in the

Final win over St. Helens by 27–0 in front of a crowd of 78,000 spectators. Shelford played at and scored a try in Wigan's 22–17 victory over

Salford Salford ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in Greater Manchester, England, on the western bank of the River Irwell which forms its boundary with Manchester city centre. Landmarks include the former Salford Town Hall, town hall, ...

in the

1988 Lancashire Cup 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

Final during the 1988–89 season at Knowsley Road on Sunday 23 October 1988. Shelford played at (replaced by interchange/ substitute Andy Goodway on 20-minutes) in Wigan's 12-6 victory over

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2021–2022 United Kingdom censuses, 2021 census had a population of 62,400. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, ...

in the 1988–89 John Player Special Trophy Final during the 1988–89 season at

Burnden Park Burnden Park was the home of England, English association football, football club Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers, who played home games there between 1895 and 1997. As well as hosting the 1901 FA Cup final replay, in 1946 it was the sc ...

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

on Saturday 7 January 1989. Shelford played 22 matches for the Wigan club in the 1989/90 season, and was back again at Wembley Stadium to help Wigan to a win over

Warrington Warrington () is an industrial town in the Borough of Warrington, borough of the same name in Cheshire, England. The town sits on the banks of the River Mersey and was Historic counties of England, historically part of Lancashire. It is east o ...

. "He was someone that would do the hard yards and lay the platform for the backs," said former team-mate Kevin Iro. Shelford had a stint with Manly in the Australian competition in 1990, appearing in 11 matches, with most of those coming off the bench. Shelford headed over to

during the 1990–91 season, playing 28 games. Shelford played at in

's 8–11 defeat by

Castleford Castleford is a town within the City of Wakefield district, West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 45,106 at a 2021 population estimate. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, to the north of the t ...

in the 1990 Yorkshire Cup Final during the 1990–91 season at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

on Sunday 23 September 1990. He was involved in eight games in 1991–92 season with

before finishing the season with four games for the Sheffield Eagles.

Representative career

Shelford represented the New Zealand Under 17's in 1981 and was a Junior Kiwi the following year while playing for Christchurch club Hornby. In 1984, his first full senior year, he made his début for

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. He played 11 provincial games for

before being chosen to tour Great Britain and France with the

New Zealand national rugby league team The New Zealand national rugby league team () has represented New Zealand in rugby league since 1907. Administered by the New Zealand Rugby League, they are commonly known as the Kiwis, after the Kiwi (bird), native bird of that name. The team' ...

in 1985. He was involved in 11 games on that tour but did not feature in any of the Test matches. He moved to Wellington club Upper Hutt in 1986 and went on to represent

the district ''The District'' is an American crime drama and police procedural television series that aired on CBS from October 7, 2000, to May 1, 2004. The show followed the work and personal life of the chief of Washington, D.C.'s police department. P ...

in 10 provincial matches between 1986 and 1987. He represented the New Zealand Māori in the 1986 Pacific Cup. He made his Test début in 1987 against Papua New Guinea at Goroka and Port Moresby before taking on the Australians in 1987 in which the Kiwis scored a famous 13–6 win over the world champions at Lang Park. “We were confident of beating the Aussies. We have a side that I believe is the best in the world, which is good for the game in New Zealand," Shelford said at the time. He played just four games, including one test, on the 1989 tour of Great Britain before being injured. Overall, he appeared in eight test matches as well as representing the Rest of the World in 1988 against Australia at the Sydney Football Stadium.

Personal life

Shelford's league career was ended by a knee injury at the age of 27. Shelford planned for life after rugby league by graduating with honours from Edge Hill University. He was teaching at a local high school in Wigan, England and had just gained promotion when he died on 19 September 2003 of a heart attack, aged 39. Shelford's cousin

Buck Shelford Sir Wayne Thomas "Buck" Shelford (born 13 December 1957) is a former New Zealand rugby union footballer and coach who represented and captained New Zealand national rugby union team, New Zealand (the All Blacks) in the late 1980s. He is also cre ...

played

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

for the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks, is the representative men's national team in the sport of rugby union for the nation of New Zealand, which is considered the country's national sport. Famed for th ...

. His son Kyle Shelford made his début for

Wigan Warriors The Wigan Warriors is an English professional rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club competes in the Super League, the top tier of the British rugby league system. Formed in 1872, the club is a founding member of the Ru ...

against the Wakefield Trinity Wildcats on Friday 8 July 2016Shelford: I wish dad was here to see debut
/ref> and his eldest son Dane Shelford represented Junior All Blacks at the 2015 under 19 Rugby World Championship in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

References

External links

*
Adrian Shelford Wigan Playing Career Page
on the Wigan RL Fansite''.
Wigan profileEx-NZ prop Shelford dies
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shelford, Adrian 1964 births 2003 deaths 20th-century New Zealand sportsmen Canterbury rugby league team players Central Districts rugby league team players Hornby Panthers players Junior Kiwis players Manly Warringah Sea Eagles players New Zealand Māori rugby league players New Zealand Māori rugby league team players New Zealand national rugby league team players New Zealand rugby league players Newcastle Knights players Other Nationalities rugby league team players Rugby league players from Christchurch Rugby league props Rugby league second-rows South Island rugby league team players Upper Hutt Tigers players Wakefield Trinity players Wellington rugby league team players Wigan Warriors players