Justin Charles (born 28 September 1970) 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
Footscray and
Richmond in the
VFL/AFL.
Footscray career
Charles was recruited to the
Footscray Football Club after winning an under-19s
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 ...
with them, and his father
John R. Charles, as well as his uncle
Norm Charles had played for the club in the past. He made his debut in 1989, however in the five seasons he spent at the club until 1993, he never could consolidate a position with spots for big players of his type competitive.
Terry Wheeler, then coach of the Bulldogs, was willing to put him up for trade, however Charles quit the club and took a year off from football. He had played only 36 games for 24 goals with the club.
Richmond career
Charles took a year off football in 1994, in frustration, when he turned his hand to
baseball, playing in the
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
with the
Florida Marlins.
The former
plumber was surprisingly picked up in the 1994
AFL Draft by
Richmond and immediately impressed the club with his work ethic. He became a prominent
ruckman and in 1996's
Brownlow Medal he polled 17 votes, with
Michael Voss and
James Hird, the winners, polling only four more.
Drugs controversy
Late in the 1997 AFL season, Charles became the first player to test positive to an
anabolic steroid
A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and a ...
,
boldenone
Boldenone (developmental code name RU-18761), is a naturally occurring anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS) and the 1(2)-dehydrogenated analogue of testosterone. Boldenone itself has never been marketed; as a pharmaceutical drug, it is used as ...
.
Alt URL
/ref> The AFL tribunal suspended him for 16 matches, as there was not an anti-drug policy in place at the time. Charles made a return to AFL football late in 1998 but injury led to his retirement shortly after, finishing with 54 games and 38 goals for the Tigers.
See also
* List of sportspeople sanctioned for doping offences
References
* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
External links
Feature story on Justin Charles and his first game back after his drug-related suspension – from the Yellow and Black Supporters Forum and Website
*
*
1970 births
Living people
Australian sportspeople in doping cases
Doping cases in Australian rules football
Richmond Football Club players
Western Bulldogs players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
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