| Richard Champion | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Richard Champion | ||
| Date of birth | 14 April 1968 | ||
| Original team(s) | Woodville (SANFL) | ||
| Draft | No. 30, 1988 national draft | ||
| Height | 186 cm (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Weight | 94 kg (207 lb) | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1991–1996 | Brisbane Bears | 119 (37) | |
| 1997–2000 | Brisbane Lions | 64 (43) | |
| Total | 183 (80) | ||
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 2000. | |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
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 he 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 he was 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 competed in the Gladiator Team Sports Challenge in 1995.
In 1997 he was a member of the inaugural Brisbane Lions team following the Bears merger with Fitzroy.
He retired at the end of the 2000 AFL season after 183 AFL games. [1]
Champion is currently a television presenter and radio commentator in Brisbane and a local celebrity. He has presented TV’s The Great South East , the Lotto draw, and commentates the AFL for Triple M. In 2006, he appeared in the television show It Takes Two , where he was mentored by Wendy Matthews. [2]
In additional to multiple singing performances on The Footy Show , Champion went on to front the classic rock supergroup The Filthy Animals after it was formed in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. The band usually plays cover songs at corporate gigs; the band often features, among many others, Kerry Jacobson (Dragon, Mondo Rock, Ian Moss), Brett Williams (The Choirboys), and Glen Muirhead (Eurogliders, James Reyne Band). [3]