Gerard Joseph Neesham (born 11 December 1954) 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 for the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

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) 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 ...

, Swan Districts Football Club and Claremont Football Club 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). Hailing from a famous Western Australian sporting family, Neesham enjoyed a very successful football career both as a player and coach, and was recognised for his achievements in 2004 when he was inducted into the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise and enshrine those who have made a significant contribution to Australian rules football in Western Australia. People eligible for inclusion are players, coaches, umpires, ...

. Since 2000, Neesham has served as

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the

Clontarf Foundation The Clontarf Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation that assists in the education and employment of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men. Overview With support from the corporate/philanthropic sector, state/Territory governments ...

. His services to indigenous youth and to football were recognized in 2011 when he was awarded the

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

as part of the Australia Day Honours List.

Playing career

In the WAFL, Neesham played 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 fac ...

in 79 games, Swan Districts in 97 games, and Claremont in 42 games. He also represented

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 ...

three times.

Sydney Swans

He won the

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

at Swan Districts in 1979 and 1980 which led to him being noticed around the country as a top quality player. This led to Neesham having a brief and unsuccessful stint in the VFL with the

, where he played nine games for one goal in 1982. He played in the last two of Swan Districts’ hat-trick of premierships in 1983 and 1984, and made it three in a row when he won a flag with East Fremantle in 1985.

Coaching career

Claremont Football Club coach (WAFL) (1987–1994)

Neesham coached 259 games in total, 171 of which were for the Claremont Football Club in the WAFL. He won premierships in 1987 and 1989 as player-coach, and again in 1991 and 1993 as senior coach.

Fremantle Football Club senior coach (AFL) (1995–1998)

In 1995, he was appointed the inaugural senior coach of the

Fremantle Football Club 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 ...

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 ...

. While Neesham introduced an attacking and exciting style of game that exhibited flair, he had limited success as a coach, winning only 32 of his 88 games to a winning percentage of 36 percent. Fellow AFL coach

David Parkin David Alex Parkin, OAM (born 12 September 1942) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the Subiaco Football Club in the Western Australian Nati ...

described Neesham’s gameplan, that encouraged possession and was influenced by Neesham’s

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

background, as before his time.Ben Collins (1 September 2006
Faster, harder, smarter
/ref> Neesham's first season as Fremantle Football Club senior coach was their inaugural season in the 1995 season, Neesham led Fremantle to finish thirteenth on the ladder with eight wins and fourteen losses. In the 1996 season, Neesham led Fremantle to finish thirteenth on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. In the 1997 season, Neesham led Fremantle to finish twelve on the ladder with ten wins and twelve losses. In the 1998 season, Fremantle's on-field performance under Neesham dropped when they finished fifteenth in (second-last) position on the ladder with seven wins and fifteen losses. At the end of the 1998 season, Neesham was sacked as Fremantle Football Club senior coach after Fremantle Football Club chairman Ross Kelly showed him the door. Neesham was replaced by former Geelong player and Sydney assistant coach,

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election as a member of The Nationals. Drum served as the Assistant Mi ...

as Fremantle Football Club senior coach. Neesham is a member of the

Clontarf Foundation

After leaving the AFL system Neesham became a teacher at

Clontarf Aboriginal College Clontarf Aboriginal College is a co-educational Aboriginal college for indigenous youth aged between 15 and 18 years, located in the Perth suburb of Waterford in Western Australia. Since 2000 the college has also been the centre for the Clontarf ...

and was asked to coach the school’s football team. As an ex-AFL coach, Neesham's presence attracted a number of students and he saw the opportunity to use football as encouragement for the students to remain at school and improve their lives. In 2000 he set up the

, which encourages school and football participation amongst indigenous youth in

. He is the chief executive officer and now runs 119 Academies across Australia, with a total enrolment of approximately 9,000 students.Alcoa helps kick goals for Clontarf

References

External links

* * *
Profile
at WA Football Hall of Fame website
Player statistics
at WAFL FootyFacts
Clontarf Foundation website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neesham, Gerard 1954 births Living people East Fremantle Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club players Claremont Football Club players Sydney Swans players Fremantle Football Club coaches Claremont Football Club coaches Australian rules footballers from Western Australia West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australian chief executives