Thomas Kelvin Coslett (born 14 January 1942) is a Welsh former dual-code international

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 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 1960s and 1970s, and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

ed rugby league in the 1970s and 1980s. He played representative level rugby union (RU) for

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, and at club level for

Aberavon RFC Aberavon Rugby Club () is a rugby union club located in the Welsh town of Port Talbot, though the club's name refers to the older settlement of Aberavon which lies on the western side of the town. The club was founded in 1876 as Afan Football ...

and

Llanelli RFC Llanelli Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872. The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pemberton. The club song is " ...

, as a

goal A goal or objective is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan, and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to ...

-kicking full-back, and representative level rugby league (RL) for

and Other Nationalities, and at club level for St. Helens (

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

), and

Rochdale Hornets The Rochdale Hornets are a professional rugby league club from Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, competing in the League 1, the third tier of European rugby league. The Rochdale Hornets are one of the original twenty-two rugby clubs tha ...

, as a toe-end kicking style (rather than round the corner kicking style) goal-kicking , or , and coached 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 St. Helens.

Background

Coslett was born in

Bynea Bynea ( ;G.M. Miller, ''BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names'' (Oxford UP, 1971), p. 23. ; sometimes ) is a village close to the River Loughor () in Carmarthenshire, Wales. It also forms an Bynea (electoral ward), electoral ward for the ...

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

, Wales.

Rugby union

Coslett made his international

début for Wales as a full-back in the 1962 Five Nations Championship match against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He also appeared that year in the Test matches against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, before shifting to the professional

code in 1962 with St. Helens.

Rugby league

Coslett played , and scored two

s in St. Helens' 7–4 victory over Swinton in the 1962 Lancashire Cup Final at

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

on Saturday 27 October 1962, he played fullback in the 15–4 victory over Swinton in the 1963 Lancashire Cup Final at

on Saturday 26 October 1963, he played , and scored a goal in the 2–2 draw

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 ...

in the 1967 Lancashire Cup Final at

on Saturday 7 October 1967, he played in the 13–10 victory over

in the 1967 Lancashire Cup Final replay at

Station Road, Swinton Station Road was a stadium in Pendlebury, near Manchester, England. It was the home of Swinton Rugby League Club between 1929 and 1992 and was widely recognised as one of the finest grounds in the Rugby League. Swinton moved to Station Road w ...

on Saturday 2 December 1967, he played and scored 6-goals in the 30–2 victory over

Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...

in the 1968 Lancashire Cup Final at

on Friday 25 October 1968, he played , and scored 2-goals in the 4–7 defeat by

in the 1968 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at

on Tuesday 17 December 1968, he played , and scored 2-goal in the 4–7 defeat by

Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staffor ...

in the 1970 Lancashire Cup Final at

on Saturday 28 November 1970, he played , and scored a goal in the 5–9 defeat by

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

in the 1970 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

on Tuesday 15 December 1970, he played , and scored 4-goals in the 8–2 victory over

in the 1971 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at

on Tuesday 14 December 1971, played , was

, scored four goals, and a

drop goal A drop goal, field goal, or dropped goal is a method of scoring points in rugby union and rugby league and also, rarely, in American football and Canadian football. A drop goal is scored by drop kicking the ball (dropping the ball and then kick ...

, and was

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...

winning the Lance Todd Trophy in the 16–13 victory over

in the 1972 Challenge Cup Final during the 1971–72 season 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 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on Saturday 13 May 1972, he played , and scored a goal in the 22–2 victory over

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

in the 1975 BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final at

Knowsley Road Knowsley Road is a former football stadium in Eccleston, St Helens, Merseyside. It was the home ground of St. Helens from 1890 until its closure in 2010. St Helens Town FC played their home fixtures at Knowsley Road from 2002 until 2010. For ...

, St. Helens on Tuesday 16 December 1975, he played at , and was

, in the 20–5 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 1976 Challenge Cup Final at

on Saturday 8 May 1976, he played right-prop, and was

in the 2–25 defeat by the

1975 NSWRFL season The 1975 New South Wales Rugby Football League premiership was the 68th season of Sydney's professional rugby league football competition, Australia's first. Twelve teams, including six of 1908's foundation clubs and another six from across Sydn ...

premiers,

Eastern Suburbs Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

in the unofficial

1976 World Club Challenge The 1976 World Club Challenge was an unofficial trial of what would later become the World Club Challenge concept, with the 1975 NSWRFL season's premiers, Eastern Suburbs hosting the 1975–76 Northern Rugby Football League season's Premiershi ...

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

on Tuesday 29 June 1976. Coslett had 15 seasons at St. Helens from 1962 to 1976, making a total of 531 appearances – a club record until this total was surpassed by

James Roby James William Mark Roby (born 22 November 1985) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who last played as a for St Helens, who he also captained, in the Super League. He represented Great Britain and England at internationa ...

in 2023. He was a prolific goal-kicker landing 1,639 career goals and scoring 45 tries for the club. He started as a tough-tackling, raw-boned youngster. A broken ankle later in his career cost his blistering pace, but he remained ever a dangerous player with the ball in hand.

Records

Kel Coslett is one of less than ten Welshmen to have scored more than 2,000-points in their rugby league careerRobert Gate (1988). "Gone North - Volume 2". R. E. Gate. and as of 2015, with 3,545-points is eighth on British rugby league's "most points in a career" record list behind Neil Fox, Jim Sullivan,

Kevin Sinfield Kevin Sinfield (born 12 September 1980) is an English rugby union coach, currently the skills and kicking coach for the England national rugby union team, England national team. He is a former professional rugby league player for Leeds Rhinos, ...

Gus Risman Augustus "Gus" John Ferdinand Risman (21 March 1911 – 17 October 1994) was a Welsh professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1920s through to the 1950s, and coached in the 1940s through to the 1970s. A devastating three-quarter ...

, John Woods, Mick Nanyn and

Cyril Kellett Cyril Kellett (27 April 1937 – 21 March 1993) was an English professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and Coach (sport), coached in the 1970s. He played at representative level for Hull XIII rugby league ...

. The record for the most goals in a BBC2 Floodlit Trophy Final is 4-goals, and is jointly held by; Ron Willett, Kel Coslett and Dave Hall.

Coaching career

Coslett went on to coach

and St. Helens, and remains involved at St Helens more than 50-years after first signing.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coslett, Kel 1942 births Living people 20th-century Welsh sportsmen Aberavon RFC players Dual-code rugby internationals Lance Todd Trophy winners Llanelli RFC players Other Nationalities rugby league team players Rochdale Hornets coaches Rochdale Hornets players Rugby league locks Rugby league players from Carmarthenshire Rugby union fullbacks Rugby union players from Carmarthenshire St Helens R.F.C. coaches St Helens R.F.C. players Wales international rugby union players Wales national rugby league team coaches Wales national rugby league team players Welsh rugby league coaches Welsh rugby league players Welsh rugby union players Wigan Warriors coaches