Allen Geelan


Allen Geelan is an Australian former rugby league footballer who played in the 1970s and 1980s. He played for Newtown, Eastern Suburbs, Canterbury-Bankstown and Western Suburbs in the New South Wales Rugby League competition.

Background

Geelan played his junior rugby league for Riverwood before joining Canterbury-Bankstown in 1978. Geelan is the son of former Newtown and Canterbury-Bankstown player Col Geelan.

Playing career

Geelan spent the first 2 years at Canterbury in reserve grade before making his first grade debut for the club in 1980. He played in 3 games during the season including the 22-17 major preliminary semi final victory over Western Suburbs, but was not selected as part of the Canterbury side which won their first premiership in 38 years against Eastern Suburbs. Geelan was instead a member of the reserve grade premiership winning team which defeated Parramatta.
The following season, Geelan made only 5 appearances and was released by Canterbury at the end of 1981. He made a total of 58 appearances for Canterbury across all grades. In 1982, Geelan joined Eastern Suburbs but only made 1 appearance for the club before signing with Newtown.
Geelan played 18 games for Newtown in 1983 which would prove to be the club's last in the top grade of Australian rugby league. He played in Newtown's final ever match in the NSWRL premiership, which was a 9–6 victory over the Canberra Raiders at Campbelltown Stadium.
In 1984, Geelan joined Western Suburbs after Newtown were evicted from the premiership due to financial reasons. In his first season at Wests, the club finished last on the table and claimed the wooden spoon with Geelan making 20 appearances. Geelan became a regular starter in the Wests team over the next few seasons as they struggled on the field. The club finished second last in 1985 and 1986 before claiming the wooden spoon in 1987 and 1988. Geelan retired at the end of the 1989 season.