Paul Kelly has played, coached, run the boundary and manned the barbecue for the Tamworth Swans for more than 30 years, and now the club wants locals to vote him all the way to the AFL Grand Final.
Mr Kelly is one of ten Regional NSW volunteers in the running for Bunnings’ Legend of the Tongs Community Choice Award, a national campaign celebrating 90 grassroots barbecue volunteers from clubs across the country.
“Paul Kelly is a legend to many Australians, but here we are not talking the singer-songwriter or the Brownlow Medallist,” the Tamworth Swans wrote in his nomination.
“Our Paul Kelly is a champion of the Tamworth Swans, who has for the 30 years of our Club’s existence as a player, coach or runner shared his love for the game and defined what it means locally to be a Swan.”
“When Old Bloods Day comes around, PK is in his natural element: turning bangers, flipping his famous ‘toughen-up’ burgers and regaling all with tales of his ten goal haul in the 1997 Grand Final.”
For the first time, the public gets a direct say in who reaches the Grand Final. Two of the eight finalists will be decided by a Community Choice public vote, with the remaining six chosen by a Bunnings and AFL judging panel. All eight finalists win a trip for two to the Toyota AFL Grand Final, and one will be crowned the 2026 Legend of the Golden Tongs, taking home $25,000 in Bunnings products and materials for their club.
Voting is open from now and runs until Sunday, 6 September, with a live Top 10 leaderboard updating daily so supporters can track how their Legend is tracking against the rest of the field.
Organisers say grassroots clubs don’t run themselves, and behind every training session, fundraiser and home game there is usually someone quietly holding it all together. The Community Choice vote is designed to put the power to recognise those volunteers directly in the hands of the people who know them best, whether that’s a club member, a proud parent, a teammate, or simply someone who has tasted their famous snags.
Mr Kelly is one of ten Regional NSW nominees, alongside volunteers from clubs in Newcastle, the Mid North Coast, Yass Valley, Hume Shire and Batemans Bay, in a field organisers say reflects the volunteers who quietly hold grassroots clubs together behind the trainings, fundraisers and home games.
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