24 Facts About Paul Osborne

Paul Anthony Osborne was born on 30 September 1966 and is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer, administrator and politician.

Paul Osborne played first-grade rugby league for the St George Dragons and Canberra Raiders before serving as a member of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 until 2001.

Paul Osborne was the chief executive officer of the Parramatta Eels in the National Rugby League from 2009 to 2011.

Paul Osborne is married to Maria Giertta, with whom he has two children.

Paul Osborne has nine children with his first wife, Sally Behn.

Paul Osborne was the Captain of the Australian Schoolboy Rugby League Team in 1984.

Paul Osborne did star in the Dragons team that won the mid-week 1988 Panasonic Cup.

Paul Osborne left the club at the end of Brian Smith's first year as head coach in 1991 to join Canberra, whose forwards' roster had been weakened after the 1991 salary cap investigation led to the Raiders having to shed several players.

In switching clubs, Paul Osborne was unlucky in that Canberra had made the grand final in four of his last five years at St George, and then the Dragons made the grand final in each of the two seasons following his move to the nation's capital.

Paul Osborne consequently joined the local Canberra competition, and later got involved in local politics.

Paul Osborne was elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly as an independent representative for the electorate of Brindabella in 1995 on a socially conservative platform.

Paul Osborne was re-elected and Dave Rugendyke, a former police officer, won a seat in the Assembly, representing Ginninderra.

However, on taking up his seat in the Assembly, Rugendyke chose not to sit with Paul Osborne, opting instead to sit as an independent in the Assembly.

In 1998, with support of Rugendyke, Paul Osborne introduced an anti-abortion bill, requiring that more information be provided to women considering the procedure and that there be a 72-hour cooling-off period between it being approved and carried out.

Paul Osborne's move was vehemently but unsuccessfully opposed by the Health Minister, Moore.

Paul Osborne voted against the 2000 budget in a successful attempt to stop the opening of a supervised injecting room.

The Assembly adjourned for seven days and, despite her attempts to secure support from Paul Osborne, Carnell was forced to resign as Chief Minister before the vote was put to the Assembly.

Paul Osborne had a crucial role in determining Carnell's future, initially proposing an early election to resolve the lack of confidence in Carnell.

In July 2004, the Canberra Times claimed that Paul Osborne was considering running for that year's ACT election with the Liberal Party, but he did not end up running.

Paul Osborne later returned to the Canberra Raiders to work for the club as a community-relations officer for a time after leaving politics.

Paul Osborne was a match-day commentator on the ABC's rugby league coverage.

Paul Osborne then oversaw the troubled club's rise to the grand final, with the Eels winning seven regular-season matches in a row to make the finals and then winning three straight finals to appear in the decider against the Melbourne Storm.

The Eels, under Paul Osborne, broke the record for the biggest crowd at a match outside of a grand final when 75,000 people attended their preliminary final against the Canterbury Bulldogs.

On 15 November 2011, Paul Osborne announced that he would no longer be Parramatta's chief executive after Christmas because "a working relationship between [him] and the club's major naming rights sponsor Pirtek is no longer tenable".