RussellEbertHandball
Flick pass expert
With Mason Cox closing in on 100 games and and Zach Touhy closing in on Jim Stynes' playing games total of 264 - he is on 258 and should break it before the finals, I thought it would be good to keep some stats on foreign born players.
I'm interested in players who took up the game when they turned 18ish. Post the Irish experiment that Melbourne, Ron Barassi and Barry Richardson started after the 1982 season ended, I have a pretty good grasp on who has achieved what, but I have poor knowledge of pre 1982. For those who don't know much about the Irish experiment which probably really started in 1967 with Harry Beitzel's Australian Football Tour of Ireland and then Ireland, Europe and USA, this is a good wiki page on it.
en.wikipedia.org
Between 1858 and say WWI there would be plenty examples of young men who came from the UK and Europe who had never seen the game, played it and picked it up quickly and made teams in the big leagues in the southern states/colonies as the game was in its relative infancy and athleticism and strength, rather than elite skills would have meant they made it. I have read over the years that Port had a couple of SANFL premiership players pre WWI, who immigrated when they were young men and played the game successfully, but I don't remember their names.
There were plenty of post WWII European immigrants to Oz who played state league footy in the 1950's to 1990's but they immigrated as kids and picked up the game at school and were playing in their early teenage years for school/clubs.
Then there are the Clive Waterhouse types, who immigrated when he was 4 or 5, never played the game as a kid in Oz, but had some visual exposure to the game. Waterhouse played his first game when he was 17 in year 12 as his school team was short of players and he agreed to help out the team, joined a local club the next year when he was 18 and 4 years later he was the #1 draft pick in 1995. That is an extraordinary effort, similar to the guys who lived overseas until they were at least 18. This 2018 interview with Dennis Commeti has some of his background https://archive.md/ojgpZ
To start this thread off, its about guys who were still living in their country of birth at 18 ( or almost 18), or had moved around the world but never had lived in Oz. I'm sure there will be some discussion about guys like Waterhouse, who immigrated here young, but took the game up late and have made it - especially the Sudanese community of the last decade or so.
I will make a couple of lists and add to them as people post about different players.
Irish born players - 50+ V/AFL games ( or significant number of games in WAFL/SANFL/TFL)
Jim Stynes 264
Zach Tuohy 258*
Tadgh Kennelly 197
Pearce Hanley 169
Sean Wight 150
Mark OConnor 96*
Connor McKenna 88*
Setanta O hAlpin 88 (born in Oz but moved to Ireland when 5, recruited by Carlton when he was 20 but from hurling not gaelic footy see post #7).
Martin Clarke 73
Connor Nash 59*
Non Irish born players - 50+ V/AFL games ( or significant number of games in WAFL/SANFL/TFL)
Mike Pyke Canada 110
Mason Cox USA 98*
I think there is an NZ player who should be on this list but I have drawn a blank so far.
I'm interested in players who took up the game when they turned 18ish. Post the Irish experiment that Melbourne, Ron Barassi and Barry Richardson started after the 1982 season ended, I have a pretty good grasp on who has achieved what, but I have poor knowledge of pre 1982. For those who don't know much about the Irish experiment which probably really started in 1967 with Harry Beitzel's Australian Football Tour of Ireland and then Ireland, Europe and USA, this is a good wiki page on it.
Irish experiment (Australian rules football) - Wikipedia
Between 1858 and say WWI there would be plenty examples of young men who came from the UK and Europe who had never seen the game, played it and picked it up quickly and made teams in the big leagues in the southern states/colonies as the game was in its relative infancy and athleticism and strength, rather than elite skills would have meant they made it. I have read over the years that Port had a couple of SANFL premiership players pre WWI, who immigrated when they were young men and played the game successfully, but I don't remember their names.
There were plenty of post WWII European immigrants to Oz who played state league footy in the 1950's to 1990's but they immigrated as kids and picked up the game at school and were playing in their early teenage years for school/clubs.
Then there are the Clive Waterhouse types, who immigrated when he was 4 or 5, never played the game as a kid in Oz, but had some visual exposure to the game. Waterhouse played his first game when he was 17 in year 12 as his school team was short of players and he agreed to help out the team, joined a local club the next year when he was 18 and 4 years later he was the #1 draft pick in 1995. That is an extraordinary effort, similar to the guys who lived overseas until they were at least 18. This 2018 interview with Dennis Commeti has some of his background https://archive.md/ojgpZ
To start this thread off, its about guys who were still living in their country of birth at 18 ( or almost 18), or had moved around the world but never had lived in Oz. I'm sure there will be some discussion about guys like Waterhouse, who immigrated here young, but took the game up late and have made it - especially the Sudanese community of the last decade or so.
I will make a couple of lists and add to them as people post about different players.
Irish born players - 50+ V/AFL games ( or significant number of games in WAFL/SANFL/TFL)
Jim Stynes 264
Zach Tuohy 258*
Tadgh Kennelly 197
Pearce Hanley 169
Sean Wight 150
Mark OConnor 96*
Connor McKenna 88*
Martin Clarke 73
Connor Nash 59*
Non Irish born players - 50+ V/AFL games ( or significant number of games in WAFL/SANFL/TFL)
Mike Pyke Canada 110
Mason Cox USA 98*
I think there is an NZ player who should be on this list but I have drawn a blank so far.
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