Josh Bootsma (born 22 February 1993) is 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 currently listed with 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). He previously played for the

Carlton Football Club The Carlton Football Club, nicknamed the Blues, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's top professional competition. Founded in 1864 in Carlton, an inner suburb of Mel ...

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), but had his contract terminated midway through the 2014 season, for breaching the club's and the AFL's codes of conduct.

Background and junior career

Bootsma was born in 1993 into a football-oriented family, with his father

Brad Brad may refer to: * Brad (given name), a masculine given name Places * Brad, Hunedoara, a city in Hunedoara County, Romania * Brad, a village in Berești-Bistrița Commune, Bacău County, Romania * Brad, a village in Filipeni, Bacău, Romania * ...

having played 163 WAFL matches for South Fremantle and 23 AFL matches for

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 1990s and 2000s. In 2011, Bootsma started the year playing for his local club North Albany, before joining WAFL side South Fremantle mid season. He went on to play 13 colts games for South Fremantle, including the premiership. Bootsma's 13 games for the Bulldogs saw his 2011 AFL Draft prospects rise greatly, with him being touted by

Kevin Sheehan Kevin Vincent Sheehan OAM (born 1 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer for Geelong and the current Australian Football League (AFL) National Talent and International Manager, a member of the AFL football operations sub-commit ...

as a potential top 30 pick. After attracting the attention of several AFL clubs, Bootsma was drafted by the

with its first round selection in the 2011 AFL National Draft (No. 22 overall). At the time he was drafted, Bootsma was in the process of completing an apprenticeship as an electrician.de Bolfo, Tony (24 November 2011
Blues stocks get a Bootsma
. Carlton Football Club. He was given guernsey number 21.

AFL career

After starting the 2012 season playing for the

Northern Blues The Preston Football Club, which trades and plays as the Northern Bullants, is a long-established Australian rules football club based in Preston that plays in the Victorian Football League (VFL). It plays its home games at the Preston City O ...

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 ...

, Bootsma made his AFL debut in

Round 6 Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the numbe ...

against , as a late replacement. On 3 June 2014, Bootsma's contract with was terminated for breaching the Club’s and the AFL’s Codes of Conduct, related to inappropriate behaviour on social media. He returned to play for in the WAFL for the remainder of the 2014 season,Alex Malcolm (26 June 2014)
"Bootsma set to resume career with Peel Thunder"
– AFL. Retrieved 26 June 2014. and played there until 2016.

References

External links

* *
WAFL playing statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bootsma, Josh Australian rules footballers from Western Australia 1993 births Living people North Albany Football Club players Peel Thunder Football Club players Preston Football Club (VFA) players Carlton Football Club players People from Albany, Western Australia Australian people of Dutch descent