Full name Richard Champion Spouse Anne-Marie Name Richard Champion | Years Club Height/Weight 186 cm / 94 kg | |
 | ||
Date of birth (1968-04-14) 14 April 1968 (age 47) 1991–19961997–2000Total Brisbane BearsBrisbane Lions Profiles | ||
Former AFL player Richard Champion at CIAF
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).
Contents
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.
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.
Richard champion showreel
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.
