Claud Augustus O'Donnell (30 January 1886 – 4 August 1953) was an Australian

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 ...

and

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 ...

player and represented his country at both sports as a dual-code rugby international.

Rugby union career

O'Donnell played rugby union with the Glebe club in inner city Sydney. He made his representative debut for

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

in 1912 and the following year made two Test appearances as hooker for the

Wallabies A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

against 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 ...

in the 1913 tour of New Zealand.

Rugby league career

Switching to rugby league O'Donnell joined the

Glebe Dirty Reds The Glebe Dirty Reds are an Australian rugby league foundation club which played in the New South Wales Rugby League, New South Wales Rugby Football League's New South Wales Rugby League premiership, Sydney premiership, the major competition for ...

in 1915 and had three seasons in the Sydney premiership. In 1918 he moved to Brisbane and joined the Carltons club, one of the early incarnations of the

Souths Magpies The Souths Logan Magpies, more commonly referred to by their former names Southern Suburbs Magpies, or South Brisbane Magpies, or often simply referred to as Souths, are a rugby league football club based in the southern suburbs of Brisbane, Au ...

. From there he made state appearances for

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

against

over four years and in 1919 was selected in the Australian team as hooker. He played in all four Tests of the 1919 rugby league tour of

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 ...

. He is listed as Australia's 97th representative on the Australian Rugby League's Kangaroo register. His international rugby league debut against New Zealand in Wellington on 23 August 1919 alongside Clarrie Prentice saw them become Australia's 20th and 21st dual code rugby internationals. It wasn't until 18 years later that Doug McLean, Jr. would become the next Australian dual representative. During the

1920 Great Britain Lions tour The 1920 Great Britain Lions tour was the third British national rugby league team or 'Lions' tour of Australasia, where it was winter and matches were played against the Australian and New Zealand national sides, as well as several local teams. I ...

O'Donnell played a match for Queensland against the visiting Britons. He returned to Sydney for a final season with

North Sydney North Sydney is a suburb and commercial district on the Lower North Shore of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. And is the administrative centre for the local government area of North Sydney Council. History The Indigenous people on the s ...

in 1923 and was aged 37 when he finally retired at the end of that year.

References

Sources

* Andrews, Malcolm (2006) ''The ABC of Rugby League'', Austn Broadcasting Corpn, Sydney * Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney {{DEFAULTSORT:Odonnell, Claud 1886 births 1953 deaths Australia international rugby union players Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Australian rugby union players Dual-code rugby internationals Glebe rugby league players New South Wales rugby union team players North Sydney Bears players Queensland rugby league team players Rugby league hookers Rugby league players from Sydney Rugby union hookers Rugby union players from Sydney South Sydney Rabbitohs players Souths Logan Magpies players 20th-century Australian sportsmen