Barry Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Barry Hall | ||||||||
 |
||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Barry Hall | |||||||
| Date of Birth | February 8, 1977 | |||||||
| Place of Birth | Victoria, Australia | |||||||
| Recruited from | Broadford/Murray U18 (TAC Cup) | |||||||
| Height/Weight | 195cm, 102kg | |||||||
| Playing Career1 | ||||||||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | ||||||
| 1996-2001 2002- |
 St Kilda Sydney Swans |
88 (144) 136 (395) |
||||||
| ¹ Club statistics to end of 2007 season | ||||||||
² Representative statistics to end of {{{repstatsend}}}
|
||||||||
Barry Hall (born February 8, 1977) is a professional Australian rules footballer. While he had played several seasons at the St Kilda Football Club, Hall is best known for his playing career at the Sydney Swans AFL club, where he has been a prolific goalkicker and onfield leader who has captained the side on numerous occassions.
Nicknamed "Big, Bad, Bustling Barry Hall" (also "Bazza", "Big Bad Barry" or various combinations of these) by media and football fans alike, Hall was a prominent junior boxer but decided to focus on a career in Australian rules football. His onfield aggression earned him a reputation as a football "wild man" and seen him involved in several controversial and highly publicized incidents and tribunal appearances. The nicknames date back to the mid-late 1990s. Sandy Roberts during the Seven Network's AFL coverage would often use the term to describe Hall's uncompromising approach to opposition back men.[citation needed]
Hall is instantly recognisable with his large stature, balding head and distinctive spider tattoo on his right shoulder. He has become one of the best known Australian Rules personalities in Sydney, having a similar profile to Tony Lockett before him.
Contents |
[edit] St Kilda career
 |
This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2008) |
The tall full-forward made his AFL debut for St Kilda in 1996.
He helped fill the void of the legendary goalkicking goliath Tony Lockett, who had moved to the Swans a couple of seasons earlier.
He played for the Saints until 2001, kicking 144 goals in 88 games and being the club's leading goalkicker in the 1999 and 2001 seasons. His career best haul of 8.2 came with the Saints in round 16, 2001 against the Western Bulldogs.
He left the Saints at the end of 2001 in style, kicking a goal on the final siren of a round 22 match against Hawthorn to win the match for the Saints. One of the main reasons for leaving was the rise of Nick Riewoldt and the recruitment of Fraser Gehrig.
[edit] Move to the Swans
He joined the Swans for the 2002 season and has prospered, leading the club's goalscoring in every season since and being named club best and fairest in 2004. He has said that he benefited from the move to Sydney, in particular the relative anonymity he enjoyed when first arriving, playing alongside Tony Lockett in Lockett's comeback from retirement season.[citation needed]
Hall's form reached a peak in 2004 when he was named in the All-Australian Team. He backed this up with consecutive appearance in the All-Australian list in 2005 and 2006.[citation needed]
Hall earned a reputation as a controversial player, with several appearances at the tribunal resulting in four suspensions for a total of 10 matches. He has given away almost twice as many free kicks as he has been given over his career, and in 2003 Swans coach Paul Roos questioned whether Hall was given all the free kicks he deserved. Umpires manager Jeff Gieschen then acknowledged that umpires may unintentionally be affected by the idea that Hall is big and strong enough to look after himself.[citation needed]
In the Swans' April Fools' Day loss to Essendon he was the Swans best, booting seven goals, including the "Goal of the Week" for Round 1 and also picking up one Brownlow Medal vote.[citation needed]
Recently, he has been the star for the Sydney AFL Promotion called "Barry Hall Hall", in an attempt to educate Sydneysiders in the idiosyncrasies of AFL Culture.[1]
In round 2, 2007, Hall suffered a knee injury when he hyper-extended it whilst opposing Richmond fullback Darren Gaspar. He struggled for the rest of this match and was taken off in the last quarter. His performances for the rest of the season were below the standard he had set in recent years. This included him being single handedly held by Collingwood veteran Shane Wakelin in the three times the teams met in 2007.[2]
[edit] Controversies
[edit] Adam Simpson incident
In 2000, Hall was suspended for one match for headbutting Kangaroos tagger Adam Simpson in his second-last year with the Saints.
[edit] Joel Corey incident
In 2001, his last year at the Saints, he was suspended for three matches for striking Geelong onballer Joel Corey. One of the reasons why Hall left the Saints was, according to then coach Grant Thomas, he wanted to get out of an environment where on-field incidents were frequent for Hall, otherwise his career would have been over.[citation needed]
[edit] Matt Maguire incident
After an incident involving a tap to the stomach of St Kilda's Matt Maguire in the 2005 Preliminary Final against St Kilda, Hall was reported for a level two striking and offered a one week suspension for a guilty plea. This suspension would have meant missing the next week's Grand Final. Hall successfully argued that it was a level one offence, reducing the penalty to a reprimand, and went on to captain the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, defeating the West Coast Eagles in the Grand Final by 4 points.[3]
[edit] Brent Staker incident
In an incident which shocked Sydney and West Coast fans alike, in Round 4 2008, Hall was reported for striking West Coast Eagles defender Brent Staker.[4]. Video footage indicated that contact was made with a clenched fist to the jaw. Staker appeared dazed and took no further part in the game, remaining off the field in a neck brace. Later in the same game Hall broke his wrist on the metal railing behind a soft cardboard advertising board. After the game, the Match Review Panel ranked the incident as intentional, severe impact and high contact, therefore the offence was directly referred to the AFL Tribunal. He was subsequently suspended for seven games.[5] Video footage of the Hall vs Staker incident was shown on television as far abroad as Denmark and the United States, appearing on ESPN.[6]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ "Big Bad Barry looks the goods", The Daily Telegraph, 3 August 2006.
- ^ "Wakelin commends effort, now want subi success", Collingwood football club, 9 September 2007.
- ^ "2006 Report Card: Sydney", Australian Football League, 2006-10-03.
- ^ Swans too good for Eagles
- ^ Hall out for seven
- ^ Barry Hall hits the international headlines
[edit] External links
- Barry Hall profile on the Official AFL Website of the Sydney Swans Football Club
- Barry Hall's statistics from AFL Tables
| Preceded by Adam Goodes |
Sydney Swans Best and Fairest 2004 |
Succeeded by Brett Kirk |
|
|||||
|
|||||
