Lazar Vidovic (born 1 April 1965) 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 the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club ...

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). Although originally from

Coolaroo Coolaroo is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hume local government area. Coolaroo recorded a population of 3,193 at the 2021 census. History Coolaroo is th ...

, he was recruited from

Castlemaine Castlemaine may mean: * Castlemaine, Victoria, a town in Victoria, Australia ** Castlemaine Football Club, an Australian rules football club ** Castlemaine railway station * Castlemaine, County Kerry, a town in Ireland * Castlemaine Brewery, Western ...

and debuted in 1989 with St Kilda. He missed the 1990 season with a

knee In humans and other primates, the knee joins the thigh with the leg and consists of two joints: one between the femur and tibia (tibiofemoral joint), and one between the femur and patella (patellofemoral joint). It is the largest joint in the hu ...

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

but returned in 1991. Vidovic played in St Kilda's 1996 AFL Ansett Australia Cup winning side. Vidovic played in 7 of 22 matches in the 1997 season home and away rounds in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the 1997 final series, winning the club's 2nd minor premiership and 1st

McClelland Trophy The McClelland Trophy is an Australian rules football trophy which has been awarded each year since 1951 by the Australian Football League (known prior to 1990 as the Victorian Football League) to the best-performing club in the home-and-away sea ...

. In 1997, he played with the Saints as a backup ruckman when

Peter Everitt Peter "Spida" Everitt (born 3 May 1974) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club, Hawthorn Football Club and Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). He played for St Kilda from 1993 to 2002 ...

suffered an injury, but he injured his knee again during the finals series, leaving Brett Cook as the number one ruckman for the

1997 AFL Grand Final The 1997 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Adelaide Football Club and the St Kilda Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 27 September 1997. It was the 101st annual gran ...

. Following this he retired at the end of the season. Vidovic was reported on many occasions during his league career, and known for his erratically aggressive on-field behaviour. In 2004 he pleaded guilty to five charges of

forgery Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...

. He was fined $7,500 for these acts.

References

1965 births Living people Australian people of Serbian descent Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) St Kilda Football Club players Castlemaine Football Club players {{AFL-bio-1960s-stub