Christopher Douglas Mainwaring (27 December 1965 – 1 October 2007) was an

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 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 ...

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) and for the

East Fremantle Football Club The East Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Sharks, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The team's home ground is East Fremantle Oval. East Fremantle are the ...

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). Adored by young fans for his handsome appearance, Mainwaring was one of the most popular footballers of his era. At his peak, he was one of the finest wingmen in the AFL, forming a devastating midfield combination with

Peter Matera Peter Matera (born 3 April 1969) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Hailing from the West Australian country town of Wagin, Matera was born of an Italian fat ...

in the early 1990s, but after a serious knee injury in 1997 he was never able to recapture his best form. After retiring in 1999, Mainwaring worked as a

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for ...

and

sports journalist Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. Sports journalism started in the early 1800s when it was targeted to the social elite and transitioned into an integral part of the n ...

with the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

and a

radio presenter A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

with Mix 94.5 before his death in 2007 from a drug overdose at the age of 41.

Football career

Mainwaring was born in the coastal

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

n town of

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...

, over 400 kilometres north of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

to Hubert Mainwaring and his wife Leah (née Cripps). He started his football career with the Greenough Demons (Rovers) before being recruited by in 1985. In his first season, he was a member of the

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 ...

team and played in a Sharks premiership team. He was a member of the

' inaugural squad in 1987. He made his debut in round three that year, against

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

at Subiaco and afterwards only missed one game for the season. and was named their best first year player. Mainwaring played for the Eagles on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

and contributed greatly to their success, playing in both their 1992 and 1994 premierships. The image of him leaping with joy at the conclusion of the game, despite having a broken ankle, is one of the lasting images of the Eagles' first premiership. Mainwaring was an

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

in 1991 and 1996 and has been named on the wing in the West Coast Eagles' Team of the Decade in 1996, Team20 in 2006 and East Fremantle's Team of the Century in 1997. Whilst he never won the Club Champion award at the Eagles, he finished in the top 10 eight times, including placing third in both his debut and second years in the VFL and second in 1989, 1992 and 1996. In 1997, he suffered a knee injury, which required a

knee reconstruction Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACL reconstruction) is a surgical tissue graft replacement of the anterior cruciate ligament, located in the knee, to restore its function after an injury. The torn ligament can either be removed from ...

and this put him out of action for the rest of that season. In 1998, while he was attempting to regain form, Mainwaring spent most of the season playing for the Sharks, before making his return to the West Coast side late that year. After another season in which he was in and out of the Eagles' side (and playing for

East Fremantle East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

), Mainwaring retired from AFL football. He wore the Eagles' number 3 guernsey, a number which had only been worn by him and

Chris Judd Christopher Dylan Judd (born 8 September 1983) is a former professional Australian rules footballer and captain of both the West Coast Eagles and Carlton Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). Widely regarded as one of the bes ...

during the Eagles' history. The club retired the number for the following three seasons, until it was revived by Eagles' draft pick

Andrew Gaff Andrew Gaff (born 16 June 1992) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). He plays predominantly as a midfielder. Gaff was recruited from the Oakleigh Chargers wi ...

in 2011. After leaving football, Mainwaring took a job with

Seven News ''7NEWS'' is the television news service of the Seven Network and, as of 2021, the highest-rating in Australia. National bulletins are presented from Seven's high-definition television, high definition studios in Martin Place, Sydney, while f ...

. By 2007, he was reading the sport at the weekend, as well as reporting during the week. He also read the sport headlines during the news on Perth radio station Mix 94.5 from 5:30 to 9:00 am. In 2005 he was a reporter for the Seven News desk. Since 2001 he had been a member of the selection panel for the All-Australian team and the

AFL Rising Star 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 Buc ...

.Scott Spits and Dan Harrison;
Mystery surrounds ex-Eagle Mainwaring's death
;

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria (Australia), Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Austral ...

; 1 October 2007 He was married to Rani and had two children.

Statistics

: , - , - 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;", , 3 , , 19 , , 6 , , 6 , , 308 , , 73 , , 381 , , 114 , , 32 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 16.2 , , 3.8 , , 20.1 , , 6.0 , , 1.7 , , 5 , - ! 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;", , 3 , , 20 , , 11 , , 7 , , 331 , , 124 , , 455 , , 97 , , 30 , , 0.6 , , 0.4 , , 16.6 , , 6.2 , , 22.8 , , 4.9 , , 1.5 , , 13 , - 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;", , 3 , , 20 , , 3 , , 23 , , 340 , , 140 , , 480 , , 95 , , 29 , , 0.2 , , 1.2 , , 17.0 , , 7.0 , , 24.0 , , 4.8 , , 1.5 , , 7 , - ! 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;", , 3 , , 21 , , 7 , , 15 , , 331 , , 148 , , 479 , , 91 , , 38 , , 0.3 , , 0.7 , , 15.8 , , 7.0 , , 22.8 , , 4.3 , , 1.8 , , 8 , - 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;", , 3 , , 21 , , 16 , , 9 , , 369 , , 139 , , 508 , , 114 , , 25 , , 0.8 , , 0.4 , , 17.6 , , 6.6 , , 24.2 , , 5.4 , , 1.2 , , 6 , - , 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;", , 3 , , 25 , , 10 , , 13 , , 409 , , 140 , , 549 , , 97 , , 45 , , 0.4 , , 0.5 , , 16.4 , , 5.6 , , 22.0 , , 3.9 , , 1.8 , , 10 , - 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;", , 3 , , 12 , , 10 , , 9 , , 206 , , 56 , , 262 , , 45 , , 20 , , 0.8 , , 0.8 , , 17.2 , , 4.7 , , 21.8 , , 3.8 , , 1.7 , , 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;", , 3 , , 23 , , 7 , , 8 , , 360 , , 130 , , 490 , , 101 , , 44 , , 0.3 , , 0.3 , , 15.7 , , 5.7 , , 21.3 , , 4.4 , , 1.9 , , 6 , - 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;", , 3 , , 9 , , 1 , , 6 , , 131 , , 47 , , 178 , , 36 , , 18 , , 0.1 , , 0.7 , , 14.6 , , 5.2 , , 19.8 , , 4.0 , , 2.0 , , 1 , - ! 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;", , 3 , , 22 , , 12 , , 11 , , 351 , , 114 , , 465 , , 94 , , 41 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 16.0 , , 5.2 , , 21.1 , , 4.3 , , 1.9 , , 12 , - 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;", , 3 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0 , , 2 , , 0 , , 2 , , 1 , , 0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.0 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 0 , - ! 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;", , 3 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 12 , , 4 , , 16 , , 3 , , 2 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 4.0 , , 1.3 , , 5.3 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 0 , - 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;", , 3 , , 5 , , 1 , , 1 , , 53 , , 14 , , 67 , , 16 , , 6 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 10.6 , , 2.8 , , 13.4 , , 3.2 , , 1.2 , , 0 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 201 ! 84 ! 108 ! 3203 ! 1129 ! 4332 ! 904 ! 330 ! 0.4 ! 0.5 ! 15.9 ! 5.6 ! 21.6 ! 4.5 ! 1.6 ! 68

Death

Mainwaring died in the early hours of 1 October 2007 after being rushed to

Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) is a teaching hospital in Nedlands, Western Australia. Opened in 1958 as the Perth Chest Hospital and later named in honour of Sir Charles Gairdner, governor of Western Australia from 1951 to 1963, it is pa ...

. Police and ambulance had been called to his address earlier that night after a complaint about a man yelling in the street. After Mainwaring refused assistance from the ambulance crew, he was released to the care of a neighbour. About an hour later, emergency services were called back to the property after he had convulsions and collapsed. Mainwaring reportedly told paramedics during the first visit that he had taken ecstasy and smoked cannabis. Former Eagles player

Ben Cousins Benjamin Luke Cousins (born 30 June 1978) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for and in the Australian Football League (AFL). Cousins is listed by journalist Mike Sheahan as one of the fifty greatest players o ...

spent time with Mainwaring on Sunday. According to the WA State Coroner's report, Mainwaring had a seizure and died after overdosing on cocaine, rather than several different drugs as media reports originally claimed. Mainwaring was to compete in a celebrity

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

event run by the

World Kickboxing Association The World Kickboxing Association (WKA) also known as World Kickboxing and Karate Association, is one of the oldest and the largest amateur and professional sanctioning body for kickboxing and Karate. History In 1976, the WKA was founded by Howa ...

Challenge Stadium Perth Superdrome, known as HBF Stadium under a commercial naming rights arrangement, is a sports complex in Perth, Western Australia. It is home to the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS). The venue is located in the suburb of Mount Cl ...

on 4 October 2007 for charity.Telethon Celebrity Fight Night
"; Retrieved 2 October 2007 He had also been invited by the AFL to hold one of the Eagles' premiership cups during the

2007 AFL Grand Final The 2007 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Geelong Football Club and the Port Adelaide Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 29 September 2007. It was the 111th annual ...

pre-game entertainment, but he cancelled in the week prior to the game, instead staying in

. Mainwaring's memorial service was held on 8 October 2007 at

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 ...

, Claremont. About 1,200 people attended the service, including 300 who watched on a big screen outside the chapel. A memorial match was played between his old club and rivals

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

in 2008, with the Eagles winning by 25 points. His two young children, along with the Matera trio, also played in the match. The West Coast Eagles retired Mainwaring's number 3 jumper for the following three seasons as a mark of respect, and the club named its Best Clubman award the Chris Mainwaring Medal in his honour. The Roberts Road wing of

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood. Subiaco Oval was the high ...

was named The Chris Mainwaring Wing for all West Coast Eagles home games, until the club moved its home games to the new

Perth Stadium Perth Stadium, currently known as Optus Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in A ...

in 2018.

References

External links

* *
Player stats
at WAFL FootyFacts
Profile
at WA Football Hall of Fame * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mainwaring, Chris 1965 births 2007 deaths All-Australians (AFL) Australian radio journalists Australian radio presenters Drug-related deaths in Australia Cocaine-related deaths East Fremantle Football Club players Seven News presenters Australian rules footballers from Geraldton West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees West Coast Eagles players West Coast Eagles Premiership players Western Australian State of Origin players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players