Kenneth Thomas Wood (15 May 1906 – 11 November 1942) was an Australian

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 1920s and 1930s. He played for

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 the NSWRL competition.

Background

Wood was born in Petersham,

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 ...

on 15 May 1906.

Playing career

Wood made his first grade debut for North Sydney against

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

in Round 14 1928 at the

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 ...

. In 1928, Norths finished 4th on the table and qualified for the finals. Wood scored a try in the club's semi final defeat against Eastern Suburbs. Wood played representative football for Metropolis against New Zealand in 1930. Wood played with Norths up until the end of 1934 before retiring.

Post playing

Wood enlisted in the Australian Army in 1940 whilst he was living 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 ...

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 ...

Death

Wood served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and fought on battles in the

Kokoda Track The Kokoda Track or Trail is a single-file foot thoroughfare that runs overland – in a straight line – through the Owen Stanley Range in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The track was the location of the 1942 World War II battle between Japane ...

against the Japanese. On 11 November 1942, Wood was killed in action and was later buried at the Bomana war cemetery in

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New ...

References

1906 births 1942 deaths Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army soldiers Australian military personnel killed in World War II Australian rugby league players Burials at Port Moresby (Bomana) War Cemetery City New South Wales rugby league team players North Sydney Bears players Rugby league centres Rugby league players from Sydney 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1900s-stub