Benedict John "Benny" Vigona (born 9 October 1958) 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 best known for playing for in the

West Australian Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL) is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting from March to September, ...

(WAFL).

Biography

Vigona is from a large extended family who are heavily involved in

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

football. His father, Anastasius, played for St Mary's in Darwin. His brother Tony spent time with

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at t ...

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) without playing a league match before playing with St Mary's. A nephew, Ronnie Burns played in the Australian Football League (AFL) with and .

Playing career

Vigona made his league debut for South Fremantle in 1977. He was a member of the Bulldogs' 1980 premiership-winning team. He played his last match for South Fremantle in 1986 having played 165 matches. During southern summers, Vigona returned to Darwin to play for St Mary's in the

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football semi-professional league operating in Darwin in the Northern Territory. The league is one of few (and the highest level) Australian Rules competitions played during ...

(NTFL). He played in two premierships for the Saints during the 1977/78 and 1983/84 seasons. He was the Chaney Medallist for best player in the 1977/78 NTFL Grand Final. He was the first player from the Northern Territory to become a life member of South Fremantle. In 1994 he was named in the NTFL Team of Two Decades for the period from 1974 to 1994. In 2009 was included in the Bulldogs' Indigenous Team of the Century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigona, Benny 1958 births Sportspeople from Darwin, Northern Territory South Fremantle Football Club players St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from the Northern Territory Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Rioli family