Gordon Benjamin Favelle (1912–1987) was an Australian professional

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 1930s. He played in the

New South Wales Rugby League The New South Wales Rugby League Ltd (NSWRL) is an Australian rugby league football competition operator in rugby league in New South Wales, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory and is a member of the Australian Rugby League Co ...

(NSWRL).

Early life

Birth records show "Gordon Benjamin Favell", born on 19 August 1912 in

Beechworth Beechworth is a town located in the north-east of Victoria, Australia, famous for its major growth during the gold rush days of the mid-1850s. At the , Beechworth had a population of 3,290. Beechworth's many historical buildings are well pr ...

, Victoria,

Commonwealth of Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of , making it the sixth-largest country in ...

. He was the son of butcher William John Favell (b. 1876 in

Beeac Beeac is a town in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. The town is located on the shore of the hyper-saline Lake Beeac in the Colac Otway Shire local government area, 160 kilometres southwest of the state capital, Melbourne. At the ...

, Victoria,

Colony of New South Wales The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...

, d. 16 Jun 1949 in

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local governm ...

) and his wife Bridget Hartney (b. about 1877 in County Kerry or County Limerick, Ireland), who arrived in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

on 14 November 1899. His paternal grandparents were James Favell, who had arrived in New South Wales on 3 June 1864 at the age of 25 from New Zealand, and Mary Ryan. His older sister Margaret Brereton Favell (b. 1907 in Beechworth, d. 13 September 1997) married James William Stent in 1943 in New South Wales.

Playing career

Originally a Christian Brothers Waverley student, Favelle played for

Sydney University rugby league team The Sydney University Rugby League Football Club is a rugby league team currently playing in the Saturday Metro League competition. The University of Sydney was represented in the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership from 1920 to ...

between 1932 and 1934 and was Captain-Coach during

1933 NSWRFL season The 1933 NSWRFL season was the twenty-sixth season of Sydney’s professional rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership during the season, ...

and

1934 NSWRFL season The 1934 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-seventh season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. Eight teams from across the city contested the premiership during the season whi ...

. His only representative match was for N.S.W. City Firsts in 1933. Favelle also played for the Eastern Suburbs club in the

1935 NSWRFL season The 1935 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the twenty-eighth season of Sydney’s top-grade rugby league club competition, Australia’s first. The season culminated in Eastern Suburbs’ victory over South Sydney in the final ...

, the year the club won its fifth Premiership. He finished his career as captain-coach of Newcastle Easts and

Kurri Kurri Kurri Kurri is a small town in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Cessnock LGA. At the , its population was 6,174. Kurri Kurri is the largest town in a group of towns and hamlets, including Stanford Merthyr, Pelaw Main, We ...

in the late 1930s. He is recognized as Eastern Suburbs player No. 241.

Personal life

Gordon was one of the pallbearers at the funeral of rugby league footballer Ray Morris on 23 September 1933. Recorded as Gordon Benjamin Patrick Favell, in 1939 he married Tita Frances Fortington (b. 25 June 1917, d. 19 January 1999 in Newcastle), daughter of Leslie Francis Fortington (1891–1950) and Eliza Isabel Watts (b. 1870). They enjoyed living in the

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

metropolitan area. In 1963, Gordon and his wife were proprietors of a coffee lounge with their son Anthony Gordon Favell as assistant. Gordon Benjamin Favell is listed with the occupation of clerk on the Electoral Rolls when they lived in New Lambton in 1968.Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903–1980
Provo, UT, US: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Accessed January 2020. In the 1980s, they lived in Kotara South. Gordon’s great grant niece is Marjorie O'Neill the Member for Coogee who is also an East’s supporter.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Favelle, Gordon 1912 births 1987 deaths Australian rugby league coaches Australian rugby league players Sydney Roosters players Sydney University rugby league team players City New South Wales rugby league team players Rugby league players from Victoria (state) Rugby league locks Rugby league five-eighths People educated at Waverley College 20th-century Australian sportsmen