Michael Allen Nunan (born 12 April 1949) 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
Sturt Football Club
The Sturt Football Club, nicknamed The Double Blues, is a semi-professional Australian rules football club based in the suburb of Unley, South Australia, which plays in the South Australian National Football League.
Founded in 1901 by the Stur ...
,
Norwood Football Club
Norwood Football Club, nicknamed the Redlegs, is an Australian rules football club competing in the South Australian National Football League (SANFL) in the state of South Australia. Its home ground is Coopers Stadium (Norwood Oval), which is ...
and the
North Adelaide Football Club in the
South Australian National Football League
The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's governing body for the sport.
Originally formed as the ...
(SANFL), as well as for the
Richmond Football Club
The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...
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 ...
(VFL).
Nunan had a highly decorated playing career, winning premierships with Sturt and Norwood before becoming coach of North Adelaide and leading the club to two premierships. He was also the last official senior coach of in 1996, resigning halfway through the season as news came out that the club was going to merge with the
Brisbane Bears to form the
Brisbane Lions.
Nunan was recognized for his achievements in South Australian football when he was among the inaugural inductees at the establishment of the
South Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2002.
SANFL career
Nunan played his football as a rover.
He joined from
Port Pirie in 1966 and during his 188 games with the Double Blues, he played in their 1969, 1970, 1974 and 1976 premiership sides. Having spent his whole playing career at Sturt under the tutelage of the legendary
Jack Oatey, it was no surprise that Nunan was heavily influenced by him when he later became a coach.
He played in the 1978 premiership side during the first of his two seasons at . He then coached
North Adelaide
North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands.
History
Surveyor-General Colonel William Light of the colo ...
to premierships in 1987 and 1991 during his twelve seasons as senior coach.
His solitary
VFL
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 ...
senior game came while he was on
National Service
National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939.
The l ...
training in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. The previous week he had played in the reserves side while fellow Sturt footballer and
conscript,
Malcolm Greenslade
Malcolm Greenslade (born 17 June 1948) is a former Australian rules football player who was part of the successful Sturt team which dominated the SANFL competition in the late 1960s. He played two matches for VFL club Richmond while posted on ...
, played in the senior side. The next week they both played in the seniors. Both then returned to the SANFL.
Coaching career
Fitzroy Football Club senior coach
Nunan was appointed senior coach of
Fitzroy Football Club for the
1996 season, when he replaced caretaker senior coach
Alan McConnell
Alan John McConnell (born 30 March 1957) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1980s and later coached Fitzroy. McConnell is currently serving as director of co ...
, who replaced
Bernie Quinlan
Bernard Francis Quinlan (born 21 July 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Footscray Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
One of a handful of players to have won a Brownlow ...
, after Quinlan was sacked in the middle of the 1995 season.
Nunan was at the helm for Fitzroy's last-ever AFL win, in Round 8 against at
Whitten Oval
Whitten Oval (also known as Victoria University Whitten Oval under a naming rights agreement) is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Barkly Street, West Footscray. It is the training and administra ...
on 16 May 1996. It was an emotional day for many Fitzroy fans, and he described it as "a relief and reward for those players who had worked very hard to improve their skill levels".
After Fitzroy lost to Essendon in Round 13, 1996 and just 48 hours after Fitzroy announced its intentions to merge with Brisbane Bears, Nunan announced his resignation as senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club to the staff and players, which he had planned to do if a merger went ahead. As he left the room, he remembered that the club doorman, Tommy Couch, had taken a liking to Nunan's jacket and had asked him if he could have it if he couldn't fulfill his commitments. So he returned and handed Couch the jacket. Nunan was then replaced by
Alan McConnell
Alan John McConnell (born 30 March 1957) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for Footscray in the Victorian Football League (VFL) during the early 1980s and later coached Fitzroy. McConnell is currently serving as director of co ...
, who returned to the role in his second stint as caretaker senior coach of Fitzroy Football Club in the 1996 season for the last eight games. At the end of the 1996 season, the Fitzroy Football Club merged with
Brisbane Bears to become the newly formed
Brisbane Lions Football Club.
References
Bibliography
* Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996
External links
SA Football Hall of Fame - Michael A Nunan
Living people
Sturt Football Club players
Richmond Football Club players
Norwood Football Club players
North Adelaide Football Club players
Fitzroy Football Club coaches
North Adelaide Football Club coaches
South Australian State of Origin players
Australian rules footballers from South Australia
South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees
1949 births
{{AFL-bio-1940s-stub