List of Australian rules footballers who died during their careers

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This is a list of Australian rules football players who have died either during their respective playing careers or due to career-ending injury or disease incurred during their playing career. It includes both on-field and off-field deaths. People who had announced their retirement from playing despite still being at an age when they could still have been active, or who only continued to play in low-level amateur or exhibition matches are not listed.

Player Age Club Competition Cause of death Year
George Allen 22 Sunshine VFA heart failure (during a practice match) 1971
Jack Allister 27 North Melbourne VFL pneumonia 1946[1]
Dave Barry 24 North Fremantle (formerly South Melbourne) WAFL
(formerly VFL) 		run over by a train 1913[2]
Rhett Baynes 25 Perth (formerly Carlton) WAFL
(formerly VFL) 		suicide (overdose) 1990[3]
Troy Broadbridge 24 Melbourne AFL drowning (2004 Asian tsunami) 2004[4]
Norm Collins 29 Hawthorn (formerly Fitzroy and Carlton) VFL suicide (hanging) 1933[3]
Peter Crimmins 28 Hawthorn VFL cancer (testicular) 1976[5]
Ron Doig 23 South Fremantle WAFL on-field injury 1932[6]
Lyle Downs 24 Carlton VFL heart attack 1921[3]
Bill Eastick 26 South Melbourne VFL illness 1914[7]
Jock Fahey 24 Numurkah (formerly South Melbourne) MFNL
(formerly VFL) 		struck by motor vehicle 1936[8]
Ted Fleming 23 University (formerly Melbourne) VFL sudden illness 1909[9]
Eddie Ford 28 Katandra (formerly Richmond) PDFNL
(formerly VFL) 		on-field injury 1946[10]
Arthur Fox 29 Rupanyup (formerly South Melbourne) WFL
(formerly VFL) 		motorcycle accident 1953[11]
Ray Gibb 24 Richmond VFL motorcycle accident 1953[12]
Brian Gilmore 26 Footscray VFL car accident 1959[13]
Wayne Gordon 29 Collingwood, Melbourne VFL cancer (Hodgkin's lymphoma) 1983
Ron James 19 Footscray AFL waterskiing accident 1990
Doug Magor 21 Footscray VFL car accident 1969
Michael Mascoulis 20 Port Melbourne (former West Coast rookie) VFL
(formerly AFL) 		car accident 2013[14]
John McCarthy 22 Port Adelaide AFL accidental fall in Las Vegas 2012
Dinny McKay 29 South Melbourne VFL peritonitis (from burst appendix) 1897
Darren Millane 26 Collingwood AFL car accident 1991
Dan Moriarty 28 Melbourne VFL railway accident 1903
Richard Nixon 26 Warrnambool (formerly Richmond) HFNL
(formerly AFL) 		car accident 1992[15]
Terry Ogden 23 Carlton VFL pleurisy 1935[3]
Max Orr 24 Ballarat (formerly Melbourne) BFL
(formerly VFL) 		car accident 1955
Arthur Pearce 21 St Kilda VFL typhoid fever 1902
Harry Pears 34 Port Melbourne (formerly Collingwood) VFA
(formerly VFL) 		died while playing 1912[16]
Fred Phillips 27 Hawthorn VFL blood poisoning 1933
Stanley Poole 23 South Fremantle WAFL heart failure following on-field injury 1940[17]
Bruce Reid 20 South Melbourne VFL car accident 1970
Maurie Sankey 25 Carlton VFL car accident 1965[3]
Jack Sexton 35 Norwood SANFL pleurisy 1935
Jeremy Silcock 26 East Perth (formerly North Melbourne) WAFL
(formerly AFL) 		drowning in Bali 1996[18]
Phil Skehan 26 Williamstown (formerly South Melbourne) VFA
(formerly VFL) 		pneumonia resulting from an on-field injury 1921
Jim Stewart 24 North Melbourne VFL appendicitis 1942
Denis Strauch 28 Port Melbourne (formerly Carlton) VFA
(formerly VFL) 		tetanus 1965[3]
Jamie Tape 28 Woodville-West Torrens (formerly Richmond and Collingwood) SANFL
(formerly VFL) 		car accident 2003[19]
Doug Tassell 24 Essendon VFL car accident 1970[20]
Jock Turner 26 Yallourn (formerly Essendon) GFL
(formerly VFL) 		motor bike accident 1935[21]
Peter White 26 Kyabram (formerly Carlton) GVFL
(formerly AFL) 		drowning 1996[3]
Anthony Williams 26 Port Adelaide SANFL building accident 1988[22]
Gerry Williams 23 St Kilda VFL railway accident 1901[23]
Brian Willis 21 Footscray VFL Brain haemorrhage 1951[24]
Antonio Loiacono 20 Birdwood HFL cardiac arrest on-field 2023 [25]
Les Witto 23 Carlton VFL tetanus 1926[3]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "WHOLESALE CUTS AT NORTH". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 25 March 1946. p. 12. Retrieved 3 September 2014.
  2. ^ "A FOOTBALLER'S DEATH". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 31 July 1913. p. 8. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h "Tragedies in Blue". 16 July 2007. Archived from the original on 24 July 2011.
  4. ^ "AFL player's wife comes home". 4 January 2005.
  5. ^ "CANCER CAUSES PLAYER'S DEATH". The Canberra Times. National Library of Australia. 29 September 1976. p. 36. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  6. ^ "Footballer's Death". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 19 September 1932. p. 9. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  7. ^ "The Record". South Melbourne Record. Emerald Hill, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 24 October 1914. p. 2. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  8. ^ "FOOTBALL COACH KILLED". The Independent. Deniliquin, NSW: National Library of Australia. 2 July 1936. p. 3. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  9. ^ "Obituary". Riverine_Herald. Echuca, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 19 May 1909. p. 2.
  10. ^ "FOOTBALLER DIES AFTER COLLISION IN GAME". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 15 July 1946. p. 20. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  11. ^ "WIMMERA FOOTBALL STAR DIES". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 16 June 1953. p. 14. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  12. ^ "Footballers rally to Gibb family". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 12 September 1953. p. 31. Retrieved 11 August 2014.
  13. ^ "Eleven die in road smashes". The Age. 30 November 1959.
  14. ^ Amy, Paul; Michell, Tim (2 December 2013). "Emotional Gary Ayres pays tribute to Port Melbourne recruit Michael Mascoulis after fatal car crash". Port Phillip Leader.
  15. ^ "Driver of fatal van read 0.055: court". The Canberra Times. ACT: National Library of Australia. 22 July 1992. p. 18. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  16. ^ "WELL-KNOWN FOOT-BALLER". The Daily News. Perth: National Library of Australia. 20 April 1912. p. 12. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
  17. ^ "FOOTBALLER'S DEATH". The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 10 August 1940. p. 10. Retrieved 31 August 2014.
  18. ^ Butler, Steve (16 September 2012). "Footy family share the pain". The West Australian.
  19. ^ Quayle, Emma (10 January 2003). "Jamie Tape: unassuming achiever who always looked forward".
  20. ^ "Wool Board Man Killed In Crash". The Canberra Times. ACT: National Library of Australia. 22 June 1970. p. 7. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  21. ^ "Road Accidents". The Argus. Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 9 March 1935. p. 30. Retrieved 7 September 2015.
  22. ^ Thring, Harry (7 September 2013). "How tragedy helped unite Port Adelaide – twice".
  23. ^ "The Prince's Bridge Fatality". Bendigo Advertiser. Victoria. 15 May 1901. p. 4.
  24. ^ "Family Notices". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 5 September 1951. p. 14. Retrieved 17 May 2015.
  25. ^ Wang, Jessica (24 April 2023). "South Australian footballer dies after horror on-field collision".
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