John Robert Dimmer (born 19 November 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 ...

coach and player from Western Australia. He spent the majority of his playing and coaching careers in the West Australian Football League (WAFL), winning one premiership in the league as a player and four as a coach. He retired from state‐league coaching at the end of the 2011 season, during which he had coached the

South Fremantle Football Club South Fremantle Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Fremantle, Western Australia. The club plays in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the WAFL Women's (WAFLW), commonly going by the nickname the ''Bulldogs ...

Playing career

Dimmer played as a

centre half-back In the sport of Australian rules football, the half-back line refers to the positions of the 3 players on the field that occupy the centre half-back and left and right half-back flank positions. Centre half-back The role of the centre half-back ...

, first playing WAFL reserves–grade football in 1972 for Subiaco. After winning a reserves premiership with the team, he began playing senior football the following season. That year, he won the only senior WAFL premiership of his playing career in a 32-point win over West Perth. He continued to play for Subiaco until 1979, when he left to East Perth having scored 24 goals in his 90 Lions games. At his new club, he continued to play regular senior football, making 81 appearances from 1980 to 1983. He captained the team in his final season as they achieved a fifth-place finish. During his WAFL career, he represented Western Australia five times in interstate matches, one of which was a State of Origin game.

Coaching career

After stints with junior and school teams, he joined

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth ** Claremont Football Club, West Australian Footba ...

's coaching staff in 1987, remaining there until 1993. During his time there, he coached the reserves team to two premierships. In 1994, he coached the West Coast Amateur Football Club, winning the WAAFL A Grade premiership and receiving the JJ Leonard Medal as a personal achievement. The following year, he was appointed head coach of West Perth, leading them to a WAFL premiership in his first year. He continued coaching the Falcons until the end of the 1999 season, during which he led them to a second Grand Final win, defeating South Fremantle in the third year in which the competition was known as "Westar Rules". In the 2000 season, Dimmer worked as an assistant coach to Damian Drum at

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 the AFL, before returning to the WAFL as West Perth's director of coaching in 2002 and 2003. In 2004, he began coaching South Fremantle, leading them to a premiership the following year in a convincing Grand Final win over Claremont after finishing second during the home-and-away season. In 2009, he won the fourth and last premiership of his career, ending Subiaco's run of three consecutive flags. In 2011, he retired from coaching to focus on a teaching job 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 ...

, also coaching the school's first XVIII football team. Outside of club coaching, he led the WAFL representative side in matches in 1996 and 2010.

Legacy

Dimmer was awarded an Australian Sports Medal on 24 October 2000 for service to Australian rules football. He received life membership of the South Fremantle Football Club in 2016, and the same honour in 2018 of the West Australian Football Commission. In 2017, he received the AFL Coaches Association's Lifetime Achievement Award, which recognises "an individual who has made an outstanding contribution" to the sport of Australian rules football.

References

Notes

External links

John Dimmer's playing statistics
from WAFL FootyFacts {{DEFAULTSORT:Dimmer, John Subiaco Football Club players East Perth Football Club players Western Australian State of Origin players West Perth Football Club coaches South Fremantle Football Club coaches Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Australian schoolteachers Living people 1954 births Place of birth missing (living people)