Dennis Carroll

Last updated

Dennis Carroll
Personal information
Date of birth (1960-11-07) 7 November 1960 (age 61)
Place of birth Ganmain, New South Wales
Original team(s) Ganmain, Albury
Height 187 cm (6 ft 2 in)
Weight 86 kg (190 lb)
Position(s) Half-Back Flank
Playing career1
YearsClubGames (Goals)
1981–1993 South Melbourne/Sydney 219 (117)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1993.
Career highlights
  • Sydney captain: 1986-1992
  • Sydney Swans Team of the Century: Half-Back Flank
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Dennis Carroll (born 7 November 1960) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was the last South Melbourne player to retire for Sydney.

From Ganmain, a small town outside Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, Carroll came from a football family. Carroll's father Laurie (St Kilda Football Club) and uncle Tom (Carlton Football Club) also played in the VFL. [1]

Carroll was recruited by the Swans in the VFL via a zoning rule, which enabled the Swans to recruit players from New South Wales. His first season was playing out of the Lake Oval in Melbourne in 1981, before moving with the Swans permanently to Sydney.

Carroll, a back flanker, became known as one of the finest kicks in the VFL, with the ability to dispose of the ball equally well on either foot. As an experienced campaigner and local product, Carroll was selected to captain the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League, an honour which he held for seven seasons between 1986 and 1992, during some of the club's darkest days and the brink of extinction. He represented both Victoria and New South Wales at State of Origin level.

Carroll retired from the AFL in 1993. During his career he totalled 219 games for the Swans and was named on the Swans team of the century. [2] The award for the most improved player at the Sydney Swans, the Dennis Carroll Award is named in his honour. [3] The Sydney Cricket Ground has named a room the Kippax/Carroll room in honour of Dennis Carroll and cricketer Alan Kippax. [4]

After retiring in 1993, Dennis spent four years as Sydney reserves coach and was later the Swans' match committee chairman.

Related Research Articles

Sydney Swans Australian Football League team

The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club, based in Sydney, New South Wales. The club competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league.

Paul Kelly (Australian rules footballer) Australian rules footballer, born 1969

Paul Kelly is a former Australian rules footballer, winner of the Brownlow Medal and captain of the Sydney Swans for ten seasons. He was and still is known to Swans fans everywhere as "Captain Courageous".

Ron Barassi Australian rules footballer

Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. is a former Australian rules football player, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a "Legend", and is one of three Australian rules footballers to be elevated to the same status in the Sport Australia Hall of Fame.

Neil Cordy is a former Australian rules footballer and now television presenter.

John Blakey Australian rules footballer

John Blakey is a former Australian rules footballer who played 359 games in the Australian Football League.

Australian Football League Pre-eminent and only fully professional mens competition of Australian rules football

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent and only fully professional men's competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the game. Originally known as the Victorian Football League (VFL), it was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition from the Victorian Football Association (VFA), with its inaugural season commencing the following year. The VFL, aiming to become a national competition, began expanding beyond Victoria to other Australian states in the 1980s, and changed its name to the AFL in 1990.

Australian rules football in the Australian Capital Territory has a history dating back to the formation of the territory in the 1910s and was the most popular football code in Canberra prior to the introduction of teams from the national competitions in both rugby league and rugby union.

Australian rules football in New South Wales

Australian rules football was first played in New South Wales in 1866 when a scratch match was held in Sydney. Matches became more frequent in the late 1870s with the arrival of touring clubs from South Australia and Victoria, where the sport was codified in 1859. Organised competition has been continuous in New South Wales since the 1880s, from which time several regions have developed into strongholds of the sport, including Broken Hill on the South Australian border, and the Riverina and the South Coast, which border Victoria. In other, more populous areas of New South Wales, notably Sydney, Australian rules has historically had a lower profile than rugby league and rugby union.

John "Mopsy" Rantall is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club, North Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Ian Roberts is a former Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL) for the Sydney Swans.

Australian National Football Council

The Australian National Football Council (ANFC) was the national governing body for Australian rules football in Australia from 1906 until 1995. The council was a body of delegates representing each of the sport's individual state leagues which controlled football in their states. The council was the owner of the laws of the game and managed interstate administrative and football matters. Its function was superseded by the AFL Commission.

Ron Clegg Australian rules footballer and coach (1927-1990)

Ron "Smokey" Clegg was an Australian rules footballer in the (then) Victorian Football League.

Anthony Joseph Daniher is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the South Melbourne/Sydney and Essendon Football Clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL). Anthony's brothers, Terry, Neale and Chris, also played for Essendon in the AFL. Anthony is currently the owner of Danihers Facility Management, a facility management business with offices in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. Father of Joe and Darcy Daniher,

David Murphy is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the Sydney Swans in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL).

Charles Salvana Australian sportsman

Louis Charles Salvana was an Australian sportsman who played first-class cricket for Victoria and Australian rules football with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He was known during his football career by his first name Lou and by Charles when he played cricket.

Harry Lampe Australian rules footballer

Henry Dedrich "Harry" Lampe was an Australian rules footballer who played with the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Originally from Wagga Wagga, he was considered one of the best Australian rules footballers from New South Wales.

George P. Anderson Australian rules footballer

George Power "Geordie" Anderson was an Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Colin Hounsell is a former Australian rules footballer who played with the South Melbourne/Sydney Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Greg Miller is a former Australian rules football player and administrator. He played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Allan Strang was an Australian rules footballer who played for the South Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

References

  1. Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim. The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers (5th ed.). Melbourne Victoria: Crown Content. p. 93. ISBN   1-74095-001-1.
  2. Swans team of the century; 9 August 2003; Sydney Morning Herald
  3. "Honour Roll". Archived from the original on 14 November 2007. Retrieved 2 January 2009.
  4. SCG Honours Arthur Morris,Doug Walters and Steve Waugh; 14 November 2008