John Gastev (previously John Gastevich, born 11 August 1964) is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the

VFL/AFL 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). I ...

. A cult figure and "crowd favourite" standing at only and weighing just , Gastev began with West Perth in 1983. However, Gastev's career did not take off until

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

when he gave up a career as an engraver to concentrate upon football full-time and became a mainstay for the Falcons before debuting with the

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known as the Victorian Football L ...

in their inaugural season. After only two seasons and 30 games, Gastev was dumped and joined the

Brisbane Bears The Brisbane Football Club, nicknamed the Bears, was a professional Australian rules football club based in Queensland on the Gold Coast (relocated to Brisbane in 1993). The club participated in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/ ...

for 1989. Gastev's main roles were as a tagger, though he occasionally played as a forward in his early years. In an upset win over the Sydney Swans early in 1989, Gastev kicked seven goals after half-time, a feat made more remarkable by the fact that he kicked no other goal in the first thirteen rounds of 1989. In this first year at the Bears he won the best and fairest, repeating the feat in 1992. After 1990, Gastev played chiefly in defence, and his career was ended when he suffered a major hit at the hands of Gary Ablett in a match in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

Kardinia Park Kardinia Park is a major public park located in South Geelong, Victoria. A number of public and sporting facilities are located in the park: a major AFL stadium, a secondary football oval, a cricket field, an open air swimming pool, a numb ...

. Gastev announced his retirement during the off-season,1994 Bears
/ref> despite being only thirty years old. His other honours include playing for

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 ...

state of origin A State of Origin competition is a type of sporting event between players representing their state or territory. State of Origin began in Australian rules football on 8 October 1977 between Western Australia (WA) and Victoria, at Subiaco Ov ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gastev, John Brisbane Bears players West Coast Eagles players 1964 births Living people Sportsmen from Western Australia West Perth Football Club players Western Australian State of Origin players Brisbane Bears Club Champion winners Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Australia international rules football team players