Jeff Fehring

Infobox afl player NEW
playername = Jeff Fehring
fullname =
image capt =


birthdate = Birth date|1955|4|21|df=y
birthplace = Leitchville, Victoria
originalteam = Leitchville Gunbower Football Club
heightweight =
position = Ruckman
dead = dead
deathdate = death date and age|2008|7|25|1955|4|21|df=y
deathplace = Hay, New South Wales
years = 1977 – 1979
1980 – 1981
clubs = Geelong
St Kilda
games(goals) = 19 (1)
17 (3)
statsend = 1981
careerhighlights =

Jeff Fehring (21 April 1955 – 25 July 2008) was an Australian rules footballer who played for Geelong and St Kilda in the Victorian Football League (as the AFL was then known) from 1977 to 1981.

Fehring was born at Leitchville, on the Murray River, near Echuca. He made his debut as a ruckman with the Geelong Football Club in 1977, playing 19 games and kicking 1 goal until 1979. He moved to St Kilda in 1980, and in 1981 his moment of fame came. While he only went on to play 17 games and kick 3 goals for St Kilda, one of those goals was a huge torpedo punt that was measured at 94 yards (around 86 metres), kicked from the centre circle at Moorabbin in 1981. The goal came minutes after he was reported, and he was so fired up that he kicked the (wind-assisted) goal, one of the biggest in Australian rules football history. Legend has it he repeated the feat during a SANFL game for Norwood Football Club.Fact|date=July 2008

Fehring's VFL career was over at the end of the 1981 season. He became a cattle farmer after marrying in 1984, but with water prices affected by drought, he was forced to sell his farm and livestock and move to Alexandra where it was hoped there would be more rain. Despite working several jobs, Fehring lost his emu and cattle farm, and his marriage. Taking custody of his two children, he moved to Darwin briefly, before buying a pub and hotel in Deniliquin in southern New South Wales. That business also failed, and beset by health problems including Type 2 diabetes and recurring heart problems, Fehring committed suicide on 25 July 2008. [cite news|url=http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,24104481-661,00.html|title=Big dry too much as Jeff Fehring takes his life|last=Dowsley|first=Anthony|date=31 July 2008|publisher="Herald Sun"|accessdate=2008-07-31]

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