Damian Cupido (born 11 March 1982) is a former professional

Australian rules footballer 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 ...

who played for the and

Essendon Football Club The Essendon Football Club, nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the game's premier competition. The club was formed by the McCracken family in their A ...

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).

AFL career

Beginning his career at the in 2000, Cupido was an unusual story, and after arriving in Australia from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, made it to the elite level of Australian rules football (the AFL). Cupido's talent was considered to be immense, with the highly skilled young star winning an

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 ...

nomination in 2001. He did not play a game in 2002 due to a shoulder injury the required surgery and long rehabilitation, at what was to be a hint of his inconsistency and lack of application, Cupido was traded by the Brisbane Lions to in a deal involving

Blake Caracella Blake Caracella (born 15 March 1977) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League (AFL). He is currently serving as an assistant coach with the Essendon Football Club. He is the brother of Craig Carace ...

. In 2003, Cupido enjoyed his best year, he booted 40 goals for the season in his small/medium forward role and was a very exciting and at times dominant player. The 2004 year had Cupido suffering for most of the year with a knee injury. It was hoped he could bounce back in 2005, but it turned out he could not. Cupido had noticeably gained weight suffered a public blast from coach Kevin Sheedy in the media, and Cupido was not only dropped to the

Bendigo Bombers The Bendigo Gold Football Club was an Australian rules football club based in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia. The club played in the Victorian Football League (VFL) from 1998 until 2014, under the nicknames Diggers, Bombers and Gold at different ti ...

in the VFL, but one level further, to the Bendigo reserves team. Eventually he fought his way back into the Essendon side but never looked like recapturing his form. At the end of the 2005 season, Cupido was delisted from the Bombers.

SANFL career

Cupido continued his football career in the SANFL with South Adelaide Football Club in the 2006 season, hoping to get a second chance in the AFL via the 2007 Pre-season draft. He did not get picked in the draft after his first season and left South Adelaide to play for West Adelaide, where he was the club's leading goal scorer in 2007. In 2009, Cupido was stood down from West Adelaide to deal with a gambling problem. He played a total of 72 games in the SANFL; 51 with West Adelaide and 21 with South Adelaide.

Itinerant player

In 2010, Cupido was recruited to

North Albury Football Club The North Albury Football Netball Club, nicknamed the ''Hoppers'', is an Australian rules football and netball club playing in the Ovens & Murray Football League (O&MFL). They are incorporated as part of the North Albury Sports Club licensed c ...

in the

Ovens and Murray Football League The Ovens and Murray Football Netball League (O&MFNL) is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing ten clubs based in north-eastern Victoria, Australia, Victoria, the southern Riverina region of New South Wales, Austral ...

. After spending a year travelling each week up to Albury to play, Cupido decided to return to his junior club Croydon in the

Eastern Football Netball League The Eastern Football Netball League (known previously as the Eastern Districts Football League and later the Eastern Football League) is an Australian rules football league, based in the eastern suburbs of metropolitan Melbourne. History The E ...

. After a season and a half, he crossed to Mt Evelyn. It was at Croydon that he had a contact with a player from the Northern Territory and he went north for the wet season. In 2013 Cupido kicked a Northern Territory record of 140 goals for a season. He backed up his goalkicking by kicking a century for Ouyen United in the Sunraysia league a few months later. https://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/localfooty/damian-cupido-set-to-join-10th-local-football-club-in-nine-seasons-after-signing-with-henty/news-story/5f2a5500f6dbf9097e0fa684ee7d9ec0#share-tools After his success at Ouyen he coached

Murray Football League The Murray Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league affiliated with the Victorian Country Football League. The league covers a large area of northern Victoria and southern New South Wales from Shepparton in the ...

club Rumbalara to the 2014 premiership while kicking 86 goals. He added another 78 goals the following year. In 2016 he was appointed coach of Airport West but left after four games, he was cleared to Bacchus Marsh for the rest of the year. He had a permit to play a game for Henty in the

Hume Football League The Hume Australian Football Netball League (HFNL), often shortened to Hume Football League, is an Australian rules football and netball competition containing twelve clubs based in the South West Slopes and southern Riverina regions of New South ...

. In 2017 he played half a season with Bairnsdale before ending the year with East Burwood. In 2018 he kicked 114 goals playing for Henty while also playing a permit game for Undera. In 2019 he again played for Henty while also playing a permit game for Moyhu. At the age of 39 after a season off because of the Covid pandemic he played for Brocklesby/Burrumbuttock in the Hume FL. He celebrated his 40th birthday by kicking 105 goals for Girgarre in the Kyabram DFL in 2022.

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