Sam Kekovich

Infobox afl player NEW
playername = Sam Kekovich
fullname = Sam Kekovich
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birthdate = birth date and age|1950|3|11|df=y
birthplace = Myrtleford, Victoria
originalteam = TBA
heightweight = 187cm / 95kg
position = Midfielder/Forward
dead = alive
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currentclub = None
guernsey = None
years = 1968-1976
1977
clubs = AFL Nor
AFL Col
games(goals) = 124 (228)
4 (4)
sooyears =
sooteams =
soogames(goals) =
nationalyears =
nationalteams =
nationalgames(goals) =
coach = notcoach
coachyears =
coachclubs =
coachgames(wins) =
statsend = 1977
repstatsend =
careerhighlights =

*1975 AFL Nor premiership player
*31 career Brownlow Medal votes
*North Melbourne Team of the Century
*Syd Barker Medallist 1969

"Slammin'" Sam Kekovich (born 11 March 1950), son of a Myrtleford tobacco farmer, and the younger brother of Carlton full-forward Brian Kekovich, is an Australian media personality and former Australian rules football player. He is well known for his controversial behaviour, both on and off the field, and his lamb industry advertisements. He is also well known for his satires as spokesman for Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) to promote lamb.

AFL History

Kekovich started his career with the North Melbourne football club in 1968, and in the following year, won the club's best and fairest award, and was the club's top goalkicker, kicking 56 goals. From that point, his brilliance was displayed only in flashes as he seemed to put more effort into other non-football activities, including soccer, trampolining, and posing naked in the "Truth" newspaper. These began to grate with those in power at the Kangaroos. However, he did play a role in the club's breakthrough premiership win in 1975. Sam holds the dubious honor of being North Melbourne's only player who was absent from the club's 1975 Premiership team photo. In the 1975 Grand Final, Sam Kekovich kicked one goal, had 16 kicks, 3 marks and 6 hand passes He also played a pivotal role by assisting Mick Nolan by contesting boundary throw-ins, in which he won most of the hit outs against Hawthorn's top ruckman Don Scott

After playing 124 VFL games for the Kangaroos between 1968 and 1976, he moved to Collingwood in 1977, but only played four games, retiring that season. His football career did not end, as he played in the Victorian Football Association for Port Melbourne Football Club.

He was included in the North Melbourne Team of the Century, on the interchange bench.

Media career

He has carried on his flamboyant style into the media sector, being most notable for his rants on the ABC show "The Fat" and a breakfast show on Melbourne radio station 3AK.Kekovich also is a radio presenter on Melbourne Sports Radio Station, SEN 1116. He also appears on Triple M's pre-match AFL coverage and is on PTI Australia on ESPN.

Kekovich's direct-to-camera TV monologues are done deadpan and use wide-ranging cultural references. They normally place in contrast many disparate or incongruous verbal images and ideas, ending with him saying his trademark, "You know it makes sense. I'm Sam Kekovich." He has performed these 'rants' on commercials for North Melbourne FC membership drives, Dan Murphy's bottle shops, and, perhaps most famously, encouraging people to act less 'unAustralian' on Australia Day by eating lamb.

In the lead-up to Australia Day 2005, Kekovich headed an advertising campaign encouraging people to eat more Australian lamb. In this particular ad campaign, he labeled vegetarians as being "un-Australian", provoking outrage from groups such as animal rights activistsWho|date=July 2007. The Australian Advertising Standards Board allowed the ads to remain on the air, as they were considered satirical, despite viewers' complaints. He did a similar ad in 2006, and although he did not target vegetarians, he did claim that many of the tragedies befalling Australians in 2005, such as the 2005 Cronulla riots and a scandal at the 2005 Ashes series, may have panned out differently if Australians had more lamb. The 2008 series of the ads calls for the replacement of Australia Day with an "Australia Week"; after claiming that New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark does "a passable impression of a man", [ [http://www.abc.net.au/rural/wa/content/2006/s2135936.htm NZ issue a lamb challenge] , ABC Rural. Accessed 10 March 2008.] he also suggests that "tree-huggers" head to the "refugee processing centre" Nauru.

Kekovich is also a columnist for sports website "The Serve" [http://theserve.com.au]

References

External links

* [http://www.mla.com.au/TopicHierarchy/Marketing/DomesticMarketing/Consumer+Campaigns/Lamb+Marketing.htm View the Kekovich Lamb Ad and more at the Meat and Livestock Australia website]
* [http://www.votelamb.com.au Vote Lamb Website]
* [http://www.mla.com.au Meat and Livestock Australia]