Fabian Francis (born 24 October 1973) 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 ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

footballer, most notable for his professional career with the

Port Adelaide Football Club Port Adelaide Football Club is a professional Australian rules football club based in Alberton, South Australia, Alberton, South Australia. The club's senior men's team plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), where they are nicknamed ...

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 ...

Early life

Born in Darwin into a family of

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped ...

descent, Francis grew up playing both

and

. Francis played in the Litchfield Rugby League Club's premiership team in 1992. He chose to focus on Australian rules football and began playing Australian rules football for the Southern Districts club 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 ...

. Francis moved to

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in 1992 to play for Port Adelaide in the

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport. Originally formed as the ...

. Although he did not play a senior game for Port, Francis sufficiently impressed

(AFL) club

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

to draft him.

AFL career

Francis made his AFL debut with Melbourne in 1991, but he did not enjoy living in Melbourne and after one season returned to Darwin to play rugby league.

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

coach

Robert Walls Robert Walls (born 21 July 1950) is a former Australian rules footballer who represented and in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. In a playing career that spanned three decades Robert played a combined 259 games ...

convinced Francis to return to Australian rules with the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/A ...

and Francis played for Brisbane from 1994 to 1995. He spent the off-season playing rugby league in Darwin where he was part of the Northern Territory side in the 1995 Ansett Challenge Cup that defeated the Mascot Jets and Victoria. He returned to Port Adelaide for the 1996 season, where he played in Port's premiership winning

1996 SANFL Grand Final The 1996 South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Grand Final saw the Port Adelaide Magpies defeat the Central District Bulldogs by 36 points. The match was played on Sunday 6 October 1996 at AAMI Stadium, Football Park in front of a cr ...

side and was runner-up in the

Magarey Medal The Magarey Medal is an Australian rules football honour awarded annually since 1898 to the fairest and most brilliant player in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL), as judged by field umpires. The award was created by Willia ...

. He was then named as an inaugural member of Port Adelaide's AFL team in 1997. Francis was clearly a favourite with Port Adelaide fans, winning the Member's Choice award for favourite player in both 1999 and 2000. Following a pay dispute, Francis was delisted by Port Adelaide at the end of the 2001 AFL season. Soon after being appointed coach of the

Fremantle Dockers The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...

for the 2002 season, Chris Connolly suggested that Francis could be drafted by the Dockers with their number one selection at the upcoming preseason draft. A deal was soon struck between Fremantle and Francis, that he would be drafted, and he moved from

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 ...

, with his family, and began training with the Dockers. Shortly before the preseason draft, the AFL informed Fremantle that they had exceeded Total Player Payments (TPP) for season 2001 - despite finishing last with only two wins for the year, and they would be barred from the upcoming draft, preventing them from selecting Francis. It is understood that the breach of TPP occurred due to an excess of injury payments - several regular players had been injured and a greater than expected number of players on match payments had needed to be paid. Fremantle then struck a deal with a clearly upset and disillusioned Francis, that he play the 2002 season in the WAFL for South Fremantle, and then be guaranteed to be drafted by Fremantle in the 2002 AFL draft. During the 2002 season, Francis suffered a serious knee injury playing for South Fremantle, and never played senior football again. He was not drafted by Fremantle later in the year, and a cash settlement was agreed upon in lieu of drafting him. He did stay with the club however, becoming a runner.

Post-AFL

Since his AFL career, Francis has worked with

unemployed Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...

Indigenous Australians 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 ...

in finding jobs.

Personal life

Prior to 1999 Francis was in a relationship with Kloe Cleary. From 1999 to 2007 he was married to Debra Buckskin, a police officer. In September 2009 he appeared in a South Australian court charged with offences related to

domestic violence Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...

. Later in 2009, he was officially charged with the following crimes: three charges of threatening life, eight counts of common assault, six counts of aggravated assault, six counts of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, and two counts of threatening to cause harm. Fabian pleaded not guilty to all charges; however, it was announced on 26 January 2012 that Francis was found guilty and was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in jail over the charges. The judge described Francis as "domineering, threatening, verbally vicious and at times physically quite violent ... undeterred by the presence of others - by the presence of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

children, her parents or by work colleagues", noting "Francis had bashed Ms Buckskin in the face, threatened to stab her and threatened to injure her to such an extent that she would have to drink through a straw." He later married Trish Gully and had another child with her. In 2021, Francis' step-son Jason Horne-Francis, Gully's son from a previous marriage, was chosen as the number one pick in the

2021 AFL draft The 2021 AFL draft comprised the various periods where the 18 clubs in the Australian Football League (AFL) can trade and recruit players during and following the completion of the 2021 AFL season. The National Draft returned to being a two day ...

References

External links