Ken McCaffery (27 September 1929 – 6 February 2021) was an Australian professional

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer, commentator and administrator. As a player, he was an Australian national and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

state representative back. He played his club football in Sydney, Toowoomba and Brisbane. After playing, McCaffery became a radio and television commentator for the game and later an administrator for the

North Sydney Bears The North Sydney Bears is an Australian rugby league football club based in North Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the New South Wales Cup, having exited the National Rugby League following the 1999 NRL season after 90 years in the ...

Playing career

McCaffery started playing first grade rugby league with Sydney's

Easts Easts may refer to: * Sydney Roosters, an Australian rugby league football team in the NRL, formerly known as "Eastern Suburbs" or "Easts" for short. * Eastern Suburbs Tigers, an Australian rugby league football club * Eastern Suburbs AFC, a New Zea ...

club in the

New South Wales Rugby Football League 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 ...

in 1948. After three seasons with them, he was persuaded to move to

Toowoomba Toowoomba ( , nicknamed 'The Garden City' and 'T-Bar') is a city in the Toowoomba Region of the Darling Downs, Queensland, Australia. It is west of Queensland's capital city Brisbane by road. The urban population of Toowoomba as of the 2021 ...

by legendary Queensland footballer

Duncan Thompson Duncan Fulton Thompson MBE (14 March 1895 – 17 May 1980) was an Australian veteran of both WWI and WWII and a rugby league footballer, coach and administrator. He was wounded on active service in WWI and has been named amongst the natio ...

. In his first year playing in Toowoomba, McCaffery was selected to represent Queensland. The following year, he was selected to play for the Kangaroos, appearing in his first test in 1953 and playing for Australia in the

1954 World Cup Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. He moved to the city to play in the

Brisbane Rugby League premiership The Brisbane Rugby League is a rugby league football competition in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was first held in 1922 and for every year until 1997. The competition was reinstated in 2001, known as the FOGS premiership under the Quee ...

with the Fortitude Valley club in 1955. Having become Queensland captain, McCaffery returned to Sydney to play with Norths from 1957. That year, he was part of the

1957 World Cup The second Rugby League World Cup was held in Australia in 1957. As before a group stage was held first, with matches being held at locations in Sydney and Brisbane. The 1957 World Cup marked the 50th anniversary of rugby league in Australia b ...

-winning Australian side. He lent his vast experience to the Norths club but suffered a shoulder injury and retired after two seasons.

Post-playing career

Post-playing, McCaffery became a commentator with Channel 9, School's Liaison Officer for the NSWRFL and Assistant Secretary to the NSWRFL before being approached to take on the Club Secretary role at

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

after the 'coup' of 1969. A decade later, he moved back to Norths as club secretary. Credited with bringing Mark Graham and

Mitchell Cox ---- Mitch Cox (born 15 November 1993) is an English rugby league footballer who plays as a second-row forward for Swinton Lions in the Betfred Championship. He has previously played at club level for the Leigh Centurions (now known as Leigh ...

to the club, he also battled to improve the image and financial position of the Bears. In 1982, McCaffery sacked successful coach

Ron Willey Ronald William Willey (1929−2004) was an Australian rugby league footballer and coach. He was a representative for the Australian national side. Post-playing, Willey had a long and successful first grade and State representative coaching care ...

and later appointed Greg Hawick, who had not coached in Sydney for almost 20 years. Hawick resigned in 1985 and McCaffery was voted out of office the following year. Ken later retired and became a publican in Lismore. He died in February 2021 at the age of 91.VALE KEN MCCAFFERY
/ref> His son

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity * Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chr ...

also played for Norths in the 1980s.

References

External links

Ken McCaffery at rugbyleagueproject.comKen McCaffery at nrlstats.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:McCaffery, Ken 1929 births 2021 deaths Place of birth missing Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league administrators Australian rugby league players Fortitude Valley Diehards players North Sydney Bears players Sydney Roosters players United States national rugby league team players Rugby league utility players