John Shane McCarthy (19 November 1989 – 9 September 2012) was an

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

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

and

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 ...

(AFL).

Playing career

Drafted by Collingwood with the 31st selection in the 2007 National Draft, McCarthy was a midfielder. He made his debut late in the

2008 AFL season The 2008 AFL season was the 112th 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 si ...

and held his position for the last six matches of the year, including two finals. He struggled to maintain his place in the Collingwood side in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, playing only two games in each season due to poor form and injuries. In each year, however, he returned to the senior side at the end of the year, playing in the qualifying final in 2009 and being named as an emergency for the

2010 AFL Grand Final The 2010 AFL Grand Final was a series of two Australian rules football matches between the Collingwood Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club. They are considered the 114th and 115th grand finals of the Australian Football League (formerly ...

. He played eight games in 2011; however, he was not selected during the finals, being delisted by Collingwood at the end of the 2011 season. After training with

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

, he was drafted by

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

in the 2012 pre-season draft, who had the selection before Richmond. He cemented his place in the Port side for the 2012 season, missing only one game for the year.

Education

McCarthy attended The Peninsula School in

Mount Eliza, Victoria Mount Eliza is a seaside suburb on the Mornington Peninsula in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Shire of Mornington Peninsula local government area. Mount Eliza recorded a ...

, graduating in 2007.

Family

McCarthy's father

Shane Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a sur ...

and brother

Matthew Matthew may refer to: * Matthew (given name) * Matthew (surname) * ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497 * ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith * Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the Ch ...

both played football with

Geelong Geelong ( ) (Wathawurrung: ''Djilang''/''Djalang'') is a port city in the southeastern Australian state of Victoria, located at the eastern end of Corio Bay (the smaller western portion of Port Phillip Bay) and the left bank of Barwon River, ...

. He also had two uncles, Bernie and Gavan, who played for

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

. His grandfather

Alan Olle Alan Charles Olle (23 July 1924 – 12 October 2004)Alan Charles Olle's obituary in the ''Herald Sun'', 14 October 2004 was an Australian rules footballer who played for in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Early life Olle was born in ...

and great uncle Jack Coffey played for .

Death

McCarthy died on 9 September 2012, after falling from a rooftop at the Flamingo Hotel on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard, Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of ...

Paradise, Nevada Paradise is an unincorporated town and census-designated place (CDP) in Clark County, Nevada, United States, adjacent to the city of Las Vegas. It was formed on December 8, 1950. Its population was 191,238 at the 2020 census, making it the fif ...

. The incident occurred at the start of a post-season holiday for McCarthy and other Port Adelaide players. They had arrived in the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

resort city only a few hours before the incident. After reviewing evidence, police said that McCarthy had attempted to jump off the roof onto a

palm tree The Arecaceae is a family of perennial flowering plants in the monocot order Arecales. Their growth form can be climbers, shrubs, tree-like and stemless plants, all commonly known as palms. Those having a tree-like form are called palm trees ...

, but slipped and fell to the ground. Following his passing, Port Adelaide retired the #35 guernsey.

References

External links

*
John McCarthy
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:McCarthy, John Collingwood Football Club players 1989 births 2012 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Dandenong Stingrays players Port Adelaide Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) Accidental deaths in Nevada Accidental deaths from falls