Richard Champion

Richard Champion’s football career spanned fourteen years in total, including ten pivotal years with the Brisbane Bears/Lions before his retirement at the end of the 2000 season.

Equally effective at either end of the ground, he made a name for himself in his early days as a quality fullback before finishing his career as a running key forward.  Originally from Kadina, north of Adelaide, Champion was a top South Australian junior who played four years’ senior football with Adelaide club Woodville from 1987 to 1990. In 1988, he was drafted by the Brisbane Bears at No. 30 in the  AFL National Draft.

His move to Queensland in 1991 was profitable for both player and club, as Champion enjoyed a golden patch particularly from 1994 to 1996, when he finished in the top six placings for the Best & Fairest Awards three times.  He also won theBears’ prestigious “Most Professional Player” award in 1994 and took “Best Clubman” honours in 1995.  Also becoming a South Australian State of Origin regular, he was regarded as one of the game’s premier fullbacks.

At this time, he also played an essential role in the growth and development of the club from the slow-moving days at Carrara on the Gold Coast to a legitimate force in the AFL following the 1993 relocation to the Gabba.  In 1996 he became the seventh player to register 100 AFL games for the fledgling Bears and was appointed a deputy vice-captain of the post-merger Lions in 1997. He played in each of the Bears’ finals in 1995-96 but missed the Lions’ first final in 1997 with a calf injury suffered at training. 1998 was a disrupted year caused by three separate post-Christmas calf strains, but Champion bounced back in 1999 when utilised at centre half forward by coach Leigh Matthews.  However, a serious thigh strain late in the season kept him out of crucial finals’ lead-up games, allowing him to play only semi-fit in the preliminary final loss to North.  It was a critical blow to what was a very real premiership campaign.  At the conclusion of his career in 2000, Champion won rarely-given, lavish praise from coach Matthews for the professional manner in which he conducted himself, having also qualified for entry to the AFL’s prestigious 200 Club. So devoted to the game he loves, he was elected to the Board of the AFL’s Players Association as the Past Player on the Executive Board where he represented his former peers making some tough calls for the betterment of the current players and the game.

A glazier by trade, who worked as a successful salesman prior to full-time football, Champion is a multi-talented personality, always prominent in the club’s off-field activities and in 1998 won a $30,000 AFL Talent Show on Channel Seven for his marvellous impersonation of Jimmy Barnes.  Champion now performs in a different way, working for Channel Seven as a presenter on the very popular Great South East and Creek to Coast programmes and shares his views on Seven News.  He also co-hosts the Sportsbet Breakfast Show each morning on Radio TAB and gives the Brisbane public a blow by blow account with his commentary on Triple M whenever the Lions play. A regular on the speaking circuit, Champion enjoys sharing his experiences with the Brisbane Club which assisted them in going from cellar dwellers to Triple AFL Premiers. He always enjoys a round of golf at The Brookwater Golf Club where he is an ambassador and is constantly working on his handicap at any given opportunity.

He was awarded Brisbane Lions Life Membership at the end of the 2000 season for his 10 years of loyal service to the club as he, wife Anne-Marie and daughters Georgia and Grace prepared for life after football.

Champion now also works full-time for AFL Queensland as the Ambassador for AFL in Queensland and as a Public Relations Officer, appearing around the Sunshine State to increase the profile of the game.

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