Allan Norman Sidebottom (born 1 January 1959) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er who played with St Kilda and

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) ** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL) during the 1980s. Sidebottom was already 24 when he began his VFL career in 1983, having played for

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

in Western Australia since 1977 and played in their 1982 premiership team. His elder brother,

Garry Sidebottom Garry Thomas Sidebottom (21 November 1954 – 28 March 2019) was an Australian rules football player who played for the St Kilda, Geelong and Fitzroy Football Clubs in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and Swan Districts in the West Austr ...

, had also played at Swan Districts before joining St Kilda. A ruckman, Sidebottom played only nine games in his first season for St Kilda but was a regular fixture in the side the following year after the retirement of

Jeff Sarau Jeff Sarau (born 25 January 1954) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for St Kilda in the Victorian Football League and West Torrens Football Club in the South Australian National Football League as a ruckman. Although at 191 ...

.AFL Tables: Allan Sidebottom
/ref> He played 21 of a possible 22 games in 1984, took 99 marks, the third most by a St Kilda player and polled well in the 1984 Brownlow Medal count to finish equal eighth. After making another 17 appearances in 1985, Sidebottom played just eight more games over the next one and a half seasons and midway through crossed to Fitzroy. Only able to play one senior game for Fitzroy, Sidebottom returned to Swan Districts in 1988 for one final season and retired owing to ankle and back injuriesThompson, Brad; ‘Bad News for Swans as Royals Rejoice’; ''

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

'', 25 July 1988, p. 91 with 98 WAFL games to his name. He had also played a

State of Origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Oval ...

match for Western Australia against Victoria back in 1985, sharing the ruck duties with

Andrew Purser Andrew Douglas Purser (born 31 October 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the East Fremantle Football Club and West Perth Football Club in th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sidebottom, Allan 1959 births Australian rules footballers from Western Australia St Kilda Football Club players Fitzroy Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club players Living people Western Australian State of Origin players