Paul Feltham is a sport psychologist

Sport psychology

Sport psychology is an interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from the fields of kinesiology and psychology. It involves the study of how psychological factors affect performance and how participation in sport and exercise affect psychological and physical factors...

 and former Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er and coach. He is best known for a short stint as caretaker coach of the Brisbane Bears

Brisbane Bears

The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...

 in 1989.

Playing career

Early in his career, Feltham played for Eastlake Football Club

Eastlake Football Club

Eastlake Football Club is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in the inner-south of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory. They compete in the North East Australian Football League.-Championship Success:...

 in the ACTAFL

AFL Canberra

AFL Canberra is the governing body for Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory.In November 2010 the five AFL Canberra Premier Division clubs merged with the Premier Division clubs of the Queensland Australian Football League to form the North East Australian Football League...

 and Balmain Football Club in the NSWAFL

Sydney AFL

The "AFL Sydney" is an Australian rules football League, based in metropolitan Sydney, Australia.The AFL Sydney competition comprises 21 clubs playing across 5 senior divisions with 2 under 18 competitions.-History:...

. His talent was his tough, courageous determination and his quick handball. Feltham played as a winger and midfielder North Melbourne

North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 from 1970 to 1976. He played in the 1974 VFL Grand Final

1974 VFL Grand Final

The 1974 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Richmond Football Club and North Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 28 September 1974. It was the 78th annual Grand Final of the Victorian Football League, staged to...

 and was one the best players in North Melbourne Football Club's first Premiership in 1975. He later joined Richmond

Richmond Football Club

The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed The Tigers, is an Australian rules football club which competes in the Australian Football League. Richmond shares healthy rivalries with Carlton, Collingwood and Essendon. After winning five premierships between 1967 and 1980, the club hit the depths in 1990,...

 in 1978, but his best football games were played at North Melbourne Football club during the '70s.

Coaching career

Feltham moved to Queensland and coached the University of Southern Queensland

University of Southern Queensland

The University of Southern Queensland is based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia. The institution was established in 1967 as the Queensland Institute of Technology...

's Australian football team and the Morningside Football Club (QAFL

AFL Queensland

AFL Queensland is the governing body of Australian rules football in Queensland. It was formed in 2000 after the previous governing body for the sport in Queensland, the Queensland Australian Football League , went into voluntary liquidation...

) in the 1980s before joining the underperforming Brisbane Bears in a part-time role as sports psychologist for the 1989 season.

When incumbent coach Peter Knights

Peter Knights

Peter Knights is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. He is widely regarded as one of the finest centre half-backs to have played the game, despite suffering numerous injuries...

 was sacked with seven games remaining in the season, Feltham was surprisingly appointed caretaker coach ahead of any of the existing coaching panel. The Bears immediately rallied to win five of the remaining matches.

Feltham was not considered for the permanent coaching position for the following season, reportedly due to a clash with particular senior players and certain club personnel, most notably football manager Shane O'Sullivan

Shane O'Sullivan

Shane O'Sullivan is an Irish hurler who plays for both the Waterford Inter-county hurling team and the Ballygunner GAA club. O'Sullivan is brother to the former Waterford inter-county hurler, Billy O'Sullivan.-Club:...

. He was replaced by another caretaker coach, former coaching assistant and ex-Fitzroy

Fitzroy Football Club

The Fitzroy Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Lions, is an Australian rules football club formed in 1883 to represent the inner Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy, Victoria and was a foundation member club of the Victorian Football League on its inception in 1897...

 player Norm Dare

Norm Dare

Norm Dare is a former Australian rules footballer and coach, most notable for coaching five premierships in the QAFL.Dare initially played league football for Fitzroy in the VFL, where he played 70 games between 1968 and 1974...

, for the 1990 season while the search for a permanent coach continued for 1991.

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. He also applied for the coaching role with Hawthorn

Hawthorn Football Club

The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...

 in 2004. He was unsuccessful in each of these applications.

He is currently based in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, where he is coach of the London Magpies Australian Football Club, and is also a sports psychologist with AFL Canada

AFL Canada

AFL Canada is the governing body for men's and women's Australian rules football in Canada....

's national side, the Northwind.

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