Richard Champion

Richard Champion
Personal information
Full name Richard Champion
Date of birth (1968-04-14) 14 April 1968
Original team(s) Woodville (SANFL)
Height / weight 186 cm / 94 kg
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1991–1996
1997–2000
Total		 Brisbane Bears
Brisbane Lions		 119 (37)
064 (43)
183 (80)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2000.

Richard Champion (born 14 April 1968 on Yorke Peninsula in Kadina, South Australia) is a former Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL) and South Australian National Football Leagues (SANFL).[1]

Originally from SANFL club Woodville, Champion was a high draft pick by the Brisbane Bears in 1988 VFL Draft, but did not move to Brisbane until the 1991 AFL season.[1]

A solidly built and tough backman, Champion wore the number 1 guernsey for Brisbane and was a Bears stalwart through some of the club's darkest years, and a poster player in an era when the club had so few.

When the club moved from Carrara on the Gold Coast, growing their fanbase, Champion became a cult figure. He was endeared by Bears fans, was Best Clubman several times and became a local celebrity with his Jimmy Barnes impressions. He was a media figure for the club. He even appeared with John Platten to represent the AFL on the television show Gladiators.

When it became apparent that the Bears would make the finals for the first time in 1995, Champion openly wept, a sign of his endurance as a player through tough times.

Champion retired at the end of the 2000 AFL season after 183 AFL games.[1]

Post-football career

Champion is currently a television presenter and radio commentator in Brisbane and a local celebrity. In 2006, he appeared in the television show It Takes Two.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2003). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (5th ed.). Melbourne, Victoria: Crown Content. p. 112. ISBN 1-74095-032-1.
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