{{Short description|Australian rules footballer and coach (1948–2019)}} {{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}} {{Infobox AFL biography | name = Paul Feltham | image = Paul Feltham.png | caption = Feltham in 1973 | fullname = Paul Feltham | birth_date = 1 October 1948 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|2019|12|19|1948|10|01|df=y}} | death_place = | height = 175 cm | weight = 78 kg | position = Midfielder | statsend = 1978 | coachstatsend = 1989 | years1 = 1970–1976 | club1 = {{AFL NM}} | games_goals1 = 128 (78) | years2 = 1978 | club2 = {{AFL Ric}} | games_goals2 = 7 (8) | years3 = 1977 | club3 = {{WAFL|EF}} | games_goals3 = 19 (14) | games_goalstotal = 154 (100) | coachyears1 = 1989 | coachclub1 = {{AFL BB}} | coachgames_wins1 = 7 (5–2–0) | careerhighlights = *{{AFL NM}} premiership player 1975 }} '''Paul Feltham''' (1 October 1948 – 19 December 2019) was an Australian rules footballer and coach.<ref>{{cite web |title=Hardie happy to look to his laurels |url=https://www.theage.com.au/sport/hardie-happy-to-look-to-his-laurels-20040717-gdy9wi.html |publisher=The Age |access-date=9 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250224022719/https://www.theage.com.au/sport/hardie-happy-to-look-to-his-laurels-20040717-gdy9wi.html |archive-date=24 February 2025 |date=17 July 2004}}</ref> He played 154 games for {{AFL NM}} and {{AFL Ric}} in the Victorian Football League between 1970 and 1978, and later served as the caretaker senior coach of the Brisbane Bears in 1989.<ref>{{cite web |title=Paul Feltham |url=https://www.tcdb.com/GalleryP.cfm/pid/220060/col/0/yea/0/Paul-Feltham |publisher=Trading Card Database |access-date=9 June 2025 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250609122159/https://www.tcdb.com/GalleryP.cfm/pid/220060/col/0/yea/0/Paul-Feltham |archive-date=9 June 2025}}</ref>
== Playing career == Early in his career, Feltham played for {{VFL Box}} in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) in 1967, Eastlake Football Club in the ACTAFL and the Balmain Football Club in the NSWAFL. His talent was his tough, courageous determination and his quick handball.
Feltham played as a winger and midfielder at {{AFL NM}} from 1970 to 1976. He played in the 1974 VFL grand final and was one of the best players in the club's first VFL premiership in 1975. He later joined {{AFL Ric}} for the 1978 season, where he kicked 14 goals in his 19 games.
==Coaching career== ===Early career=== Feltham captain-coached Mordialloc during the 1979 VFA season, then left to coach West Canberra in 1980.<ref>{{cite book|last=Fiddian|first=Marc|title=The VFA – A History of the Victorian Football Association 1877 – 1995|year=2013|pages=176|publisher=Melbourne Sports Books}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110586479 |title=Australian Football: The Magpies shape up well for 1980. |newspaper=The Canberra Times |date=30 March 1980 |accessdate=14 March 2015 |page=28 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
Later in the 1980s he moved to Queensland, where he coached the University of Southern Queensland's Australian football team to back to back premierships in the Darling Downs AFL competition in 1986 and 1987 and the Morningside Football Club in the Queensland Australian Football League (QAFL).
===Brisbane Bears=== Feltham joined the underperforming Brisbane Bears in a part-time role as sports psychologist for the 1989 season.
When incumbent senior coach Peter Knights was sacked with seven games remaining in the 1989 season, Feltham was surprisingly appointed caretaker senior coach ahead of any of the existing coaching panel. The Bears immediately rallied to win five of the remaining matches, which included an upset win over the eventual premiers Hawthorn, who only lost three matches over the home-and-away season.<ref name=2miniv>{{cite news|title=Two-minute interview |first=Tim |last=Lane |newspaper=The Age |date=31 July 2004|url=http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2004/07/30/1091080437451.html?from=storyrhs |accessdate=29 October 2010}}</ref>
Feltham was not considered for the permanent senior coaching position for the following season, reportedly due to a clash with particular senior players<ref>{{cite news|title=Newman leadership must be questioned|first=Brad |last=Hardie|newspaper=Sunday Times|date=24 May 2009|page=61|quote=Some of the players heard a rumour about Feltham that dated back 15 years prior and decided to get rid of him}}</ref> and certain club personnel, most notably football manager Shane O'Sullivan.<ref name=2miniv /> He was replaced by another caretaker senior coach, former coaching assistant and ex-Fitzroy player Norm Dare, for the 1990 season while the search for a permanent senior coach continued for 1991.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://img1.wsimg.com/blobby/go/c3a15545-5fbc-453a-bfd7-d8a62cd21106/downloads/1cvdrco0b_244083.pdf?ver=1563704898261|title=ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AUSTRALIAN FOOTBALL CLUBS|access-date=16 March 2022}}</ref>
===Other coaching roles=== For most of the 1990s, he disappeared from the spotlight, but reappeared in 1999 as an applicant for the vacant coaching role with Woodville-West Torrens. He applied for the same position again the following season.<ref>{{cite news |title=Fuller to win Eagles post today |first=Doug |last=Robertson |newspaper=The Advertiser|location=Adelaide |date=19 October 2000 |page=94}}</ref> He also applied for the coaching role with Hawthorn in 2004.<ref name=2miniv /> He was unsuccessful in each of these applications.
Later in life, Feltham was based in Canada and coached the London Magpies Australian Football Club while working as a sports psychologist with AFL Canada.<ref>{{cite web |author1=Rodney |title=Almanac Footy: Team of Caretaker Coaches who never got a full time job |url=https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-footy-team-of-caretaker-coaches-who-never-got-a-full-time-job/ |publisher=The Footy Almanac |access-date=9 June 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250415210439/https://www.footyalmanac.com.au/almanac-footy-team-of-caretaker-coaches-who-never-got-a-full-time-job/ |archive-date=15 April 2025 |date=15 April 2025}}</ref>
==Personal life== Feltham died on 19 December 2019.<ref name="rhett">{{cite tweet |number=1931954815992836268 |user=rhettrospective |title=The AFL Historians and the North Melbourne Historian have confirmed that Paul Feltham passed away in December 2019. His death wasn't reported in press at the time. |first=Rhett |last=Bartlett |date=2025-06-09 |access-date=2025-06-09 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20250609120122/https://x.com/rhettrospective/status/1931954815992836268 |archive-date=2025-06-09 |df=dmy-all}}</ref> His death was not reported until June 2025, when it was confirmed by North Melbourne historians and posted online by Richmond historian Rhett Bartlett.<ref name="rhett"/>
During his time in Queensland, he was in a relationship with 21 year old Diane McGrane, who was murdered by her brother in 1986.<ref>https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/dianne-mcgrane-tied-up-raped-and-stabbed-to-death-by-teenage-brother-james-at-remote-cottage/news-story/70cbcda2af0933585bdd79a10d2ada10</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{AFL Tables}} *{{AustralianFootball}} *{{WAFL FootyFacts}}
{{1975 North Melbourne premiership players}} {{Brisbane Bears coaches}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Feltham, Paul}}
Category:1948 births Category:2019 deaths Category:North Melbourne Football Club players Category:North Melbourne Football Club premiership players Category:Richmond Football Club players Category:East Fremantle Football Club players Category:Eastlake Football Club players Category:Balmain Australian Football Club players Category:Mordialloc Football Club players Category:Brisbane Bears coaches Category:Australian rules footballers from the Australian Capital Territory Category:Australian psychologists Category:Mordialloc Football Club coaches Category:VFL/AFL premiership players