Noel Lovell (born 26 September 1961) 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 with Collingwood and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

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) during the 1980s. Lovell made his league debut in Collingwood's 1981 Preliminary Final win, coming off the

interchange bench Interchange (or, colloquially, the bench or interchange bench) is a team position in Australian rules football, consisting of players who are part of the selected team but are not currently on the field of play. Interchange numbers AFL As of t ...

when

Ross Brewer Ross Brewer (born 14 August 1953) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne, Collingwood and Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He has a brother Ian who is seventeen years older and also played for Colli ...

injured his ankle. This made him the first VFL player from any club since

Len Thompson Len Thompson (27 August 1947 – 18 September 2007) was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Collingwood Football Club, South Melbourne Football Club and Fitzroy Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Collingwood ...

in 1965 to make his debut in a

preliminary final The McIntyre System, or systems as there have been five of them, is a playoff system that gives an advantage to teams or competitors qualifying higher. The systems were developed by Ken McIntyre, an Australian lawyer, historian and English lect ...

. Recruited from Preston RSL, Lovell was again playing off the interchange bench in the

1981 VFL Grand Final The 1981 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Carlton Football Club and Collingwood Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 26 September 1981. It was the 85th annual Grand Fin ...

and experienced his first loss. He played the first seven rounds in 1982 but struggled to get a game over the next two seasons and finished his career with a stint at Richmond.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovell, Noel 1961 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Collingwood Football Club players Richmond Football Club players Living people