Christopher Lockley Lewis (born 17 March 1969) 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 over 200

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

senior games for the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football ...

. An

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

, Lewis is one of the sons of

Irwin Lewis Irwin Lewis (21 April 193928 January 2020) was an indigenous Australian artist, who was previously a notable scholar, sportsman and public servant. Best known as the father of Australian rules footballer Chris Lewis, a member of the West Coas ...

, a notable scholar, sportsman, public servant, and indigenous Australian artist. Like his father and older brothers Clayton and Cameron, he attended

Christ Church Grammar School , motto_translation = God is our leader, learning is our light , established = , founder = William Joseph McClemans , type = Independent single-sex early learning, primary, and secondary day and boarding school , gender = Boys , deno ...

, one of the elite independent schools in Western Australia, for his secondary education, and later played Australian rules football for the

Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are na ...

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, ...

. At the time Lewis attended Christ Church, the school apparently did not allow Year 10 students to play in the First XVIII football team (which was reserved for Year 11 and 12 boys, for safety reasons). However, Lewis' ability meant that an exception was made in his case. He was also a very good cricketer whilst at Christ Church. Lewis first came to prominence during WA’s 1985 Teal Cup win as a member of the so-called “Magnificent Seven” along with future Eagles teammates

John Worsfold John Richard Worsfold (born 25 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football coach and player. He was the senior coach of the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL) between October 2015 and September 2020. He pr ...

Guy McKenna Guy Lindsay McKenna (born 11 May 1969) is a retired Australian rules football player and the former senior coach of the Gold Coast Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). McKenna played 267 games for the West Coast Eagles, includi ...

Peter Sumich Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

Chris Waterman Chris Waterman (born 19 September 1968) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. Waterman’s playing career started in Rossmoyne’s junior football zone where he was eventually recruited by the East Fremantle Football Club at th ...

, Paul Peos and

Scott Watters Scott Watters (born 25 January 1969) is a former Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, he was drafted from the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) to the West Coast Eagles in the Austr ...

. Equal parts tenacious and silky-skilled, Lewis went on to become a member of the inaugural West Coast Eagles side that defeated Richmond in round 1, 1987. In the last game of that season he kicked a career-high 7 goals against St Kilda. In 1990, he won the

West Coast Eagles Club Champion Award The John Worsfold Medal is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player(s) adjudged the best and fairest at the West Coast Eagles throughout the Victorian Football League/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) season. Sixte ...

. He was a member of the 1992 and 1994 WCE premiership teams, as well as the 1996 Claremont premiership team in the WAFL. As a player, Lewis was considered as highly skilled - his passing skills were amongst the best in the AFL. The main criticism of Lewis was his frequent suspensions. However, fans and teammates felt that he was given particularly unfair treatment from both umpires and the

tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

. Lewis played much of his early football career prior to the AFL taking action against

racial abuse Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

, and thus racial taunts from opposition players were a frequent source of provocation. Lewis has also been known for many unusual suspensions, including the most infamous case of biting

Todd Viney Todd Viney (born 30 March 1966) is an Australian rules football executive and former player and coach. He is currently the General Manager of Football of the North Melbourne Football Club. Viney played 13 seasons with in the VFL/AFL, and he ...

's finger in 1991. It’s now well known that this, amongst most of Lewis’s suspensions, where in the act of defence or retaliation for being directly targeted by opposition teams. At the time of the Viney case AFL legend

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. (born 27 February 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into ...

defended Lewis saying that he would have done the same thing if another man stuck his fingers in his mouth. Multiple previous opponents of Lewis, who targeted him with racial slurs and abuse to throw him off his game have since publicly apologised for their actions. Most notably former players Dermott Brereton and

Gary Lyon Garry Peter Lyon (born 13 September 1967) is a former professional Australian rules football player and was captain of the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Since his retirement from football, he has been mainly ...

during an episode of the Footy Show in 2011 which Lewis was a guest. The AFL’s longest serving coach Mick Malthouse once wrote that Lewis was the most talented footballer to come out of Western Australia, and that if he had played under the AFL’s current day stance against racial vilification and discrimination, he would have been a 300+ game player. Malthouse described the abuse Lewis copped from opposition players as "absolutely disgraceful". "I don't think eras have anything to do with it. Chris was reported on a couple of occasions. In my mind, I have no doubt he was vilified. "We accepted it, and we have got a lot to pay for that, as a nation, as a league and as individuals. "Football wore him down. From a young man, when I first went to that football club, who had a beautiful big smile, that became more and more tested through his career." After missing the entire 1999 season with a foot injury, Lewis attempted to play on in 2000 but managed just three games before announcing his retirement. Finishing his AFL career as a well decorated, duel premiership, 200+ game player. Lewis’s career total of 259 goals is in the top 10 of the Eagles’ all-time list. He coached Swan Districts in 2007 before moving to Port Hedland. He remains involved in football by umpiring the reserves grade in the North Pilbara Football League. Following his retirement Lewis has been honoured for his contribution to football by selection in the AFL’s Indigenous Team of the Century in 2005, being named as half forward flanker in the Eagles' 20th anniversary team in 2006, and the 25th anniversary team in 2011, as well as being inducted into the Eagles Hall of Fame in 2011.

Statistics

:Chris Lewis' player profile at AFL Tables
/ref> , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 19 , , 29 , , 20 , , 227 , , 68 , , 295 , , 91 , , 42 , , 1.5 , , 1.1 , , 11.9 , , 3.6 , , 15.5 , , 4.8 , , 2.2 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 12 , , 15 , , 15 , , 108 , , 25 , , 133 , , 28 , , 15 , , 1.3 , , 1.3 , , 9.0 , , 2.1 , , 11.1 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 16 , , 18 , , 13 , , 247 , , 83 , , 330 , , 80 , , 35 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 15.4 , , 5.2 , , 20.6 , , 5.0 , , 2.2 , , 3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 22 , , 24 , , 17 , , 346 , , 118 , , 464 , , 68 , , 59 , , 1.1 , , 0.8 , , 15.7 , , 5.4 , , 21.1 , , 3.1 , , 2.7 , , 9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 21 , , 31 , , 19 , , 277 , , 99 , , 376 , , 61 , , 54 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 13.2 , , 4.7 , , 17.9 , , 2.9 , , 2.6 , , 3 , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 23 , , 17 , , 26 , , 269 , , 93 , , 362 , , 64 , , 53 , , 0.7 , , 1.1 , , 11.7 , , 4.0 , , 15.7 , , 2.8 , , 2.3 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 15 , , 22 , , 12 , , 183 , , 46 , , 229 , , 51 , , 44 , , 1.5 , , 0.8 , , 12.2 , , 3.1 , , 15.3 , , 3.4 , , 2.9 , , 0 , - , style="text-align:center;background:#afe6ba;",

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

† , style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 25 , , 39 , , 37 , , 306 , , 82 , , 388 , , 97 , , 41 , , 1.6 , , 1.5 , , 12.2 , , 3.3 , , 15.5 , , 3.9 , , 1.6 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 21 , , 20 , , 17 , , 234 , , 87 , , 321 , , 55 , , 55 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 11.1 , , 4.1 , , 15.3 , , 2.6 , , 2.6 , , 6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 8 , , 6 , , 4 , , 52 , , 27 , , 79 , , 25 , , 10 , , 0.8 , , 0.5 , , 6.5 , , 3.4 , , 9.9 , , 3.1 , , 1.3 , , 0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 15 , , 23 , , 13 , , 236 , , 81 , , 317 , , 61 , , 28 , , 1.5 , , 0.9 , , 15.7 , , 5.4 , , 21.1 , , 4.1 , , 1.9 , , 7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 15 , , 14 , , 12 , , 129 , , 43 , , 172 , , 35 , , 18 , , 0.9 , , 0.8 , , 8.6 , , 2.9 , , 11.5 , , 2.3 , , 1.2 , , 3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 0 , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , , — , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 28 , , 3 , , 1 , , 0 , , 11 , , 13 , , 24 , , 2 , , 7 , , 0.3 , , 0.0 , , 3.7 , , 4.3 , , 8.0 , , 0.7 , , 2.3 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 215 ! 259 ! 205 ! 2625 ! 865 ! 3490 ! 718 ! 461 ! 1.2 ! 1.0 ! 12.2 ! 4.0 ! 16.2 ! 3.3 ! 2.1 ! 36

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Chris 1969 births Living people West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles Premiership players Claremont Football Club players Western Australian State of Origin players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football John Worsfold Medal winners Swan Districts Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees People educated at Christ Church Grammar School Australia international rules football team players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players