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Nicky Winmar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Neil Elvis "Nicky" Winmar (born 25 September 1965 in Pingelly, Western Australia) is a former Australian rules footballer of indigenous background. [1]
Recruited from South Fremantle in the WAFL, Winmar was overlooked in the West Coast's original squad and was recruited by St Kilda. While he was marred by inconsistency in the West, his move to the Saints brought out the best in him. He won the Best and Fairest award for the Saints in his 3rd season (1989) after solid performances in 1987 and 1988.
Winmar is best remembered for his reaction to overt racism from the crowd at Victoria Park when he faced the offending segments of the crowd, lifted his Guernsey and defiantly pointed to his skin (at the end of a game between St Kilda and Collingwood) in 1993. This act led to far-reaching reform in the AFL in respect of racism in the game. Up to this point Winmar had had a solid season, but a contractual dispute meant he missed a month of football thereafter and with him went St Kilda's finals aspirations.
He played 231 games for St Kilda between 1987 and 1998, kicking 283 goals. He played for the Western Bulldogs in his final season in 1999, kicking 34 goals in 21 games. He was All-Australian in 1991 and 1995, and won the Best and Fairest for his club in 1989 and 1995.
In 1998, Winmar appeared on Seven Network football variety show Live and Kicking, performing "That's Alright" by Elvis Presley, a reference to his middle name Elvis. It is also around this time when another controversial event occurred with racial overtones. When Winmar failed to appear on the The Footy Show, Sam Newman pretended to be him and painted his face black which produced much negative feedback at the time.
Between 1999 and 2001, Winmar played in the Northern Territory Football League, kicking four goals from full forward in his first game.
In 2006, Winmar played for Rutherglen in the Tallangatta league in North East Victoria and in 2007 he plans to play for the Wodonga Saints in the same competition.
| Preceded by Danny Frawley |
St Kilda Best and Fairest winner 1989 |
Succeeded by Stewart Loewe |
| Preceded by Robert Harvey |
St Kilda Best and Fairest winner 1995 |
Succeeded by Nathan Burke |
| Preceded by Mick Martyn |
Michael Tuck Medallist 1996 |
Succeeded by Craig Bradley |
- ^ Holmesby, R. and Main, J. (2005). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. ISBN 1-86350-243-2