Gordon Fode (born 5 August 1971) 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 with St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

(VFL).

Early life

Fode was a talented athlete in several sports, athletics, tennis, & junior soccer, played for Sandringham JSC, until age 13. When he turned 14, was asked to join U19 St. Kilda FC, Recruiting Officer John Beverage, asked him to come down to trial, & was selected in U19 Squad, with teammate Robert Harvey, Brett Bowey, Brad Pearce, Jason Daniels and the great Shane Warne.

VFL/AFL career

St Kilda (1988–1995)

Fode made his debut, just turned 17-year-old, in the last round of the

1988 VFL season The 1988 VFL season was the 92nd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria, and by reason of it featuring clubs from New South Wales, Queensl ...

youngest debutant in that year. He was then Selected to represent Victorian U15 All Schoolboys Championships, & Victorian U17 Teal Cup squad, with making All U17 Australian Team. 1989 He went on to play all 22 games the following season, before hamstring injuries restricted him to only 4 games in the next two seasons. Coach - Ken Sheldon, moves Fode into a forward Line, off defence during the

1993 AFL season The 1993 AFL season was the 97th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured fifte ...

saw him kick 17 goals from 11 matches, and he was part of a 4 pronged attaching forward line.

Hawthorn (1996)

After only nine games in 1994, and 5 in 1995, he left St Kilda, and joined

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

drafted Fode with the 5th selection in the 1996 Pre-season draft, played in reserves all year 1996 AFL Centenary, and only managed a few senior games, AFL pre-season, but never managed senior game for AFL, at Hawthorn. He retired young, aged 27, from the VFL/AFL at the end of the

1996 AFL season The 1996 AFL season was the 100th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

and attempted to go back to play soccer, scoring goals playing for Chelsea Hajduk (Croatian team) & then trying out for the NSL league

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

but he was overlooked for a contract with the Melbourne Knights.

Career highlights

Athletics: * U-15 Victorian Schoolboys Champion Long Jump 1985 6.15m Tennis: * U-15 Brighton Dendy Park Tennis Club Champion 1985 VFL/AFL Football: * U-15 Victorian Schoolboys Squad 1986 * U-17 Victorian Teal Cup Squad 1987 * All Australian U-17 Squad 1988

Personal life

Fode's father, Marko Fode was a goalkeeper for NSL League Leaguetoday, and still holds

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

A-League Men A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

record for the most consecutive games keeping a

clean sheet In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

. Fode's father, went onto to play for two clubs Footscray J.U.S.T FC, where we won national league Cup titles, and

South Melbourne FC South Melbourne Football Club is an Australian semi-professional Association football, soccer club based in suburb of Albert Park, Victoria, Albert Park, in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria. The club currently competes in the National P ...

, winning the

Dockerty Cup The Dockerty Cup is an annual association football knock-out competition open to all Victorian clubs across the Victorian football league system. The tournament is named after the former president of Football Federation Victoria Harry Dockerty. ...

4 times, alongside great players Jimmy Armstrong, Steve Kennedy & Walker. Marko Fode was inducted into South Melbourne FC Hall of Fame. He also representative Victoria as a goalkeeper. Fode's mother, Georgina Fode, was a great swimmer, and coached by the great former St. Kilda FC player, Neil Roberts, at school college days.

References

External links

*
Interview
with Saints Footy 1971 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) St Kilda Football Club players Living people {{AFL-bio-1970s-stub