Michael Parsons (footballer)

Michael Parsons
Personal information
Full name	Michael Parsons
Date of birth	3 October 1960(1960-10-03)
Date of death	24 April 2009(2009-04-24) (aged 48)
Place of death	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Original team	North Adelaide
Height/Weight	203 cm / 99 kg
Position(s)	Ruckman
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1988-90	Sydney Swans	25 (14)
1 Playing statistics to end of 1990 season .

Michael "Mike" Parsons (3 October 1960 – 24 April 2009) was a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) and North Adelaide in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL).

Nicknamed "Bristles", Parsons was initially a National Basketball League player. During the early 1980s he spent time with both Launceston Casino City and the West Adelaide Bearcats. The latter would later merge into the Adelaide 36ers club. Most notably, he played at Launceston in the 1981 NBL Season, where they were league Champions.

Parsons, a ruckman, is best remembered in football circles for his Jack Oatey Medal winning performance in North Adelaide's 1987 SANFL Grand Final win. He was then recruited to Sydney with the tenth pick in the 1987 VFL Draft but struggled to make an impact in his three years, although he gathered three Brownlow Medal votes for his 23 disposal effort in a match against the West Coast Eagles midway through his first season. Parsons returned to North Adelaide in 1991 and finished the year as a member of another premiership team.

In 2008, Parsons suffered a stroke and was revealed to be suffering from a brain tumour. He died in hospital on 24 April 2009.^[1]

References

1. ^ North Adelaide Football Club website

Source

• Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim. The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers (7th edition). Melbourne: Bas Publishing (2007)

External links

• Michael Parsons (footballer)'s statistics from AFL Tables

Persondata
Name	Parsons, Michael
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	3 October 1960
Place of birth
Date of death	24 April 2009
Place of death	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia