Brett William Backwell (born 18 May 1980) 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 ...

player who achieved some international notoriety in 2005 when he had a finger amputated to enable him to continue his chosen sport. Backwell played for in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

(AFL) from 1999 to 2001, and won the

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (formerly the Victorian Football Association). It is named after J.J. Liston, a businessman, civic leader and sports administrato ...

in 2001 and the Magarey Medal in 2006.

AFL career

Backwell played his junior football in Queensland. He was drafted to the elite AFL competition at number 67 selection in the 1998 AFL Draft. His father Owen was a winner of the QAFL's Grogan Medal in 1971 and 1975. Backwell debuted in the opening Round of the 1999 season. Played primarily as a small forward, he showed some opportunist play and in his 18 games managed a creditable 12 goals. He was nominated for the

AFL Rising Star award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan B ...

. He spent much of 2001 playing in Carlton's stand-alone reserves team in the Victorian Football League (VFL), where he won the

for best and fairest. He was delisted at the end of the 2001 season.

SANFL career

Lured to South Australia by West Adelaide in an effort to rekindle his AFL career, Backwell quickly shone at this lower level of competition, finishing fourth in the Magarey Medal. In 2003 Backwell moved to Glenelg, joining his former teammate from Carlton,

Heath Culpitt Heath Culpitt (born 16 February 1978) is an Australian rules footballer who played with Carlton in the Australian Football League. From Castlemaine, Victoria, Culpitt played football for the Castlemaine Football Club, before being recruited to ...

. Selection in SANFL state teams followed 2003, 2005 and 2006, including the 2003 win over Western Australia, earning him the Fos Williams Medal for a best-on-ground performance. In 2006 Backwell won the highest individual award in the league, the Magarey Medal, a feat heightened after he elected to have a finger amputated twelve months earlier. In post-award interviews he said he has not given up hope of again playing in the AFL, and hoped his Magarey win would spark interest from other clubs, but this did not eventuate and he continued to play with Glenelg until 2009. Backwell spent the 2009/10 summer playing in the Northern Territory Football League for Waratah; as a result of playing for Waratah instead of participating in Glenelg's preseason, Backwell was sacked by his SANFL club. After sitting out the 2010 SANFL season, he returned in 2011 for North Adelaide, and played there until his retirement from the SANFL in June 2012. He played out the season in the

Southern Football League The Southern League is a men's football competition featuring semi-professional clubs from the South and Midlands of England. Together with the Isthmian League and the Northern Premier League it forms levels seven and eight of the English fo ...

for Morphettville Park. Backwell served as a midfield assistant coach for South Adelaide from 2013 until 2014, before resigning. He later became coach of Prince Alfred Old Collegians, taking them to the Division One minor premiership in the Adelaide Football League.

Finger amputation

In 2005 Backwell enjoyed a brief period of international celebrity status when he elected to have his left-ring finger amputated. The finger had caused him constant pain and restricted movement since injuring it in 2002. Surgeons offered him the option of fusing the bones in his finger, but he declined this as it would not have allowed him to continue playing. After having the finger chopped off, he was flown to the United States to appear on the 22 September episode of the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

''.David Letterman episode guide
TV.com. He continued to play football without any complications from only having nine fingers.

References

External sources

*
Brett Backwell's Blueseum profile
Australian Broadcasting Commission article about the finger amputation
SANFL News
article on transfer to Glenelg
FootySA
summary of V/AFL career {{DEFAULTSORT:Backwell, Brett Glenelg Football Club players West Adelaide Football Club players Magarey Medal winners J. J. Liston Trophy winners Carlton Football Club players North Adelaide Football Club players Zillmere Eagles Australian Football Club players Waratah Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Queensland Australian amputees Sportspeople with limb difference 1980 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Brisbane