Kevin (Dick) Phegan Print Page

The testimonial fountain commemorates Kevin (Dick) Phegan who died five months after his spine was dislocated while he was playing rugby at Jubilee Oval.

Kevin was packing into a scrum in a rugby match at Jubilee Oval when pressure on his head dislocated his spine. He was completely paralysed from the neck down. He died in November 1948 at the age of 22. 

Team-mates have collected £1400 to buy best medical attention for Kevin Phegan (22) who has been paralysed since injuring his spine at football 3 months ago. Kevin was packing into a scrum in a rugby match at Jubilee Oval, Sydney, when pressure on his head dislocated his spine. He has since been in Balmain Hospital unable to move.  He lies on his back and can only see life about him in the ward through a mirror fixed at the head of the bed. Through a movable glass frame above his head he reads books and papers. Kevin is engaged, but the marriage, to have taken place in September, has been postponed indefinitely.
Mirror (Perth, WA),  9 October 1948.

The Mayor of Balmain (Ald. E. C. Erwin) yesterday unveiled a memorial fountain at Balmain District Hospital. Residents of Rozelle and Balmain dedicated the fountain to a footballer who died after being injured in a game at Jubilee Oval, Glebe, in June, 1948. About 100 people attended the ceremony. The footballer was Kevin Phegan, 22, electrician, of Rozelle. Doctors admitted Phegan to Balmain Hospital with a fractured spine. He died on November 4, 1948.
Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 24 July 1950.

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