Paddy George

Kenneth Brooking "Paddy" George (28 May 1883 – 10 August 1950) was a New Zealand rugby footballer of the 1900s and 1910s, playing representative rugby league for New Zealand (non-Test matches) (#32), and Wellington, as a Stand-off.

Playing career

George originally played rugby union in the Auckland Rugby Union competition for the City club. In 1904, along with Paddy Long, he was found guilty of match-fixing and suspended for 10 years.

George subsequently moved to Wellington and in 1908 he was part of the very first rugby league match on New Zealand soil, at the end of the 1907-08 All Golds tour.

George then represented Wellington and was part of the 1909 New Zealand tour of Australia. In 1912 he was part of the committee that founded the Newtown rugby league club, which took part in the inaugural Wellington Rugby League competition.

During the 1913 tour of New Zealand by New South Wales, George played against the touring party twice - for Wellington and New Zealand.

Paddy George played Stand-off in Wellington's 33-18 victory over Auckland during the 1913 New Zealand rugby league season Inter-district competition on Saturday 27 September 1913, this would be Wellington's last victory against Auckland until 1988.

Death

George died in 1950 and was buried at Te Henui Cemetery in New Plymouth.

Note

George's nickname of Paddy does not appear to be derived from his given names of Kenneth Brooking, although rugbyleagueproject.org, nzrl.co.nz, and nzleague.co.nz erroneously state his given name as Patrick, this could be a case of reverse-annotation from the nickname Paddy.