Nicky Winmar

Nicky Winmar

Personal information
Birth	25 September 1965 (1965-09-25) (age 46)
Recruited from	South Fremantle
Height and weight	183cm / 81kg
Playing career¹
Debut	Round 1, 28 March 1987, St Kilda Football Club v. Geelong, at Moorabbin Oval, Melbourne
Team(s)	St Kilda Football Club 1987–1998 230 games 283 goals Western Bulldogs 1999 21 games 34 goals In Total 251 games 317 goals
¹ Statistics to end of 1999 season
Career highlights
Australian Football League Mark Of The Year 1992 St. Kilda AFL Cup Winning side 1996 Michael Tuck Medalist 1996 St. Kilda Minor Premiership Side 1997 All-Australian Team 1991, 1995 Trevor Barker Award – St Kilda Best & Fairest Winner 1989, 1995 St Kilda Football Club Leading Goalkicker 1988 St Kilda Football Club Leading Disposals 1995 St Kilda Football Club Team Of The Century 1900–1999 Indigenous Team Of The Century 1900–1999

Neil Elvis "Nicky" Winmar (born 25 September 1965 in Pingelly, Western Australia) is a former Australian Footballer of an indigenous background who played for the St Kilda Football Club in the Australian Football League.^[1]

AFL career

Winmar was recruited to St Kilda Football Club from West Australian Football League club South Fremantle.

1988: Leading goalkicker

A solid debut season in 1987 was followed a 1988 season in which Winmar was St Kilda's leading goalkicker.

1989: Best and fairest winner

He won the St Kilda Football Club best and fairest award (now called the Trevor Barker Award) in just his third season.

Winmar made headlines and created an iconic image when he reacted to overt racism from some of the Collingwood crowd at Victoria Park at the end of a game between St Kilda and Collingwood. He turned to face the offending segments of the crowd, lifted his guernsey and defiantly pointed to his skin.^[2] At the time Winmar felt his gesture was meant to show he had 'guts' in facing up to the racial taunts, but the image of a proud Aboriginal man showing off his brown skin to counter racist taunts from the crowd was exceptionally powerful. Winmar's reaction, along with the incident between Michael Long (Essendon) and Damian Monkhorst (Collingwood) on Anzac Day 1995, are considered the two most important events resulting in reform in the AFL to stamp out racism, particularly towards Indigenous Australians.^{[citation needed]} The moment is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting the Game That Made Australia, commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport^[3]

1996: Michael Tuck Medal

Winmar played in St Kilda's 1996 Ansett Australia Cup winning team – St Kilda's first pre-season cup win. Winmar was judged best player on the ground in the 1996 Ansett Australia Cup Final and awarded the Michael Tuck Medal.^[4][5]

1997: Minor premiership and grand final player

Winmar played in 18 of 22 matches in the 1997 season in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the finals, winning the club’s second minor premiership and first McClelland Trophy.^[6]

St Kilda qualified for the 1997 AFL Grand Final after qualifying and preliminary finals wins. St Kilda were defeated in the 1997 AFL Grand Final by 31 points. Winmar showed immense emotional courage during a difficult period for him personally in the 1997 season and played in all three 1997 finals matches including the 1997 AFL Grand Final.

Winmar played in the 1998 AFL season in which St Kilda qualified for the finals. Winmar played in both 1998 finals matches in which St Kilda were defeated.

Winmar left the St Kilda Football Club at the end of the 1998 AFL season.

Winmar was named in the St Kilda Football Club Team Of The Century 1900–1999 in 2003.

Post AFL career

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 2003 he played with the Seville Blues in the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League winning the premiership and finishing equal runner up in the best and fairest playing up forward.

In 2006 Winmar played for Rutherglen in the Tallangatta league in North East Victoria and in 2007 joined the Wodonga Saints in the same competition.

In 2007 Winmar was working with Denfam, a Melbourne construction business.^[7] He is currently working as a shearer in his home town, Pingelly.

References

1. ^ Holmesby, R. and Main, J. (2005). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. ISBN 1-86350-243-2
2. ^ National Gallery of Australia
3. ^ Australian Football League, The Game That Made Australia, Retrieved 19 September 2010
4. ^ "AFL 1996 Ansett Cup Grand Final – St Kilda v Carlton". Slattery Media Group. 23 March 1996. http://images.slatterymedia.com/image/?image_id=141079. Retrieved 2009-11-07. 
5. ^ "AFL 1996 Ansett Cup Grand Final – St Kilda v Carlton – Nicky Winmar of St Kilda with the trophy and his Michael Tuck Medal". Slattery Media Group. 23 March 1996. http://images.slatterymedia.com/image/?image_id=141078. Retrieved 2009-11-07. 
6. ^ "1997 Season Scores and Results – Ladder". AFL Tables. Unknown. http://stats.rleague.com/afl/seas/1997.html#lad. Retrieved 2009-11-07. 
7. ^ AFL Record, Round 9, 2007

Awards
Preceded by Brett Allison	AFL Mark of the Year 1992	Succeeded by Tony Modra
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

Persondata
Name	Winmar, Nicky
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1965-09-25
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death