Ron Costello (born 1942) 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 1960s and 1970s. He played for the

Western Suburbs Magpies The Western Suburbs Magpies (legal name: Western Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club Ltd) is an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as the club is commonly ...

, Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs,

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 ...

and for the Australian national side.

Playing career

From Shellharbour on the South Coast of

, Costello went to Shellharbour Public School (1948–1954), and then went to the

in Sydney and played lower grades in 1964–1965. He was signed by Collegians Wollongong RLFC (Illawarra Division) in 1967 by then coach Kevin Smyth (a former Kangaroo 1963). Collegians won the Club Championship and First Grade Premiership that season with Costello representing New South Wales. Costello played at Collegians in 1968 and in 1969 he was selected to play for

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, becoming Kangaroo No.430,ARL Annual Report 2005, page 54 and toured New Zealand and appeared in one test. He was then signed by Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and played there for three seasons between 1970 and 1972. In 1970 he represented Australia again in the third Ashes test against Great Britain. At the end of that year he was selected to play in the World Cup. His final test appearance was against New Zealand in 1971. He returned to the Illawarra Competition in 1973 with the Port Kembla Club. He finished his career at Shellharbour in 1980 where it started. Costello was named in the

Illawarra Rugby League The Illawarra Rugby League is a rugby league competition in Wollongong, NSW. It is one of the oldest rugby league competitions in Australia, founded in 1911 with five clubs (Dapto, Helensburgh, Mount Keira, Unanderra and Wollongong). The area p ...

Team of the Century in 2010.

References

Sources

* Whiticker, Alan & Hudson, Glen (2006) ''The Encyclopedia of Rugby League Players'', Gavin Allen Publishing, Sydney 1942 births Living people Australia national rugby league team players Australian rugby league players Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs players Rugby league players from New South Wales Western Suburbs Magpies players Rugby league second-rows 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-rugbyleague-bio-1940s-stub