MARTIN O’Connell was one of Oxfordshire’s most versatile and successful schoolboy sports stars.

He excelled at football, rugby, cricket and athletics.

The all-rounder’s greatest achievement was on the rugby field.

In 1956, in his last year at Gosford Hill School, Kidlington, 15-year-old Martin became the first – and only – Oxfordshire boy to captain the England Schoolboys XV.

Playing at fly half, he led England into an early three-point lead against Wales at Bristol, but his team lost by 18 points to six.

He also appeared in the Oxfordshire schools’ rugby team, played in the school cricket team, and represented his school and the Oxford Schools’ athletics team in the discus and shot.

He was equally impressive as a centre forward on the football field.

He captained the school side, which carried off the Bob Gray Cup with a 2-1 win over favourites Cheney School at the Morris Motors‘ ground at Crescent Road, Cowley. Martin scored one of the goals.

Excelling at so many sports, it was not surprising there were frequent clashes of dates.

When Martin made his international rugby appearance, his father, Patrick, and sisters, Margaret, Eileen and Angela, were there to watch him. His mother, Winifred, however, stayed at home.

Martin, now 69 and living in Exeter Road, Kidlington, recalls: “She was never very interested in sport, and she would have been afraid I would get hurt.”

Strangely, it was the Bob Gray Cup triumph, rather than the England game, that sticks in his mind most, probably because his school won against the odds and he scored a goal.

In the England game, despite the thrill of representing his country before a crowd of 10,000, he was disappointed with the service he got from the scrum-half.

After leaving school, he started an apprenticeship with TH Kingerlee, the Oxford builders, and opted to play football for Kidlington – there was no rugby club in the village then.

His former PE master, Ian Smith, of Mark Road, Headington, tells me: “His international appearance as captain reflected well on him, the school and the county.”

Others say it was a tribute to the skill, determination and energy of Mr Smith, with the support of colleague Selwyn Withers and headmaster Joe Ainley, who identified, nurtured and developed sporting talent at the school at that time.

The two caps Martin won at county and international level are now with relatives in Wales, hopefully encouraging their 11-year-old rugby-loving son to match or emulate Martin’s remarkable achievements.