Peter Patrick Pius Paul "Crackers" Keenan (born 7 April 1951) 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 worked as a strapper for

Bart Cummings James Bartholomew Cummings (14 November 1927 – 30 August 2015), also known by his initials J. B. Cummings, was one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He was known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as he w ...

, and played with

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 ...

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League United King ...

and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at the ...

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 ...

. Keenan played as a 197 cm ruckman and was a solid marker of the ball as well as having a good drop punt. He was recruited from Assumption College by Melbourne for whom he made his VFL debut in 1970. After playing 101 games for Melbourne in six seasons he signed for North Melbourne, a club who had just won the premiership. Apart from having the chance to play regular finals football he had also been tempted to the club by the coach,

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. (born 27 February 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into ...

. He was North Melbourne's first ruckman in their 1977 premiership team. In

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

North Melbourne won the minor premiership and Keenan had enjoyed a stellar season playing as first ruck. However, it would come to a sour end; in a semi-final loss against arch-rivals marred by some violent incidents, Keenan was reported in the last quarter for striking Hawks captain Don Scott. Keenan pleaded "guilty under duress", claiming he had lashed out because Scott had kneed him in a part of the lower back which had become arthritic since falling off a horse four years prior. In spite of his emotional plea for clemency, the VFL Tribunal handed Keenan a two-match suspension, which ruled him out of the

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

. He is depicted being reported by an umpire in Jamie Cooper's painting ''the Game That Made Australia'', commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport.Australian Football League
The Game That Made Australia
, Retrieved 19 September 2010 The 1979 and 1980 seasons were spent with Essendon before he returned to his original team, Melbourne, who had also acquired his premiership coach, Ron Barassi. After retiring as a player he became an Australian rules media commentator. For several years, Keenan was a regular every Friday with

Red Symons Redmond Symons (born 13 June 1949) is an English-born Australian musician, and television and radio personality. He was the lead guitarist in the band Skyhooks, the snide judge of 'Red Faces' (a segment of the long-running variety show ''Hey H ...

on 774 ABC Melbourne providing footy and racing tips. Keenan was ruck coach at Collingwood Football Club for 10 seasons under Leigh Matthews' coaching in the 1990s. After that Keenan was ruck coach at Port Melbourne The Borough under the coaching of Gary Ayres.

Footnotes

References

* Ross, J. (ed), ''100 Years of Australian Football 1897–1996: The Complete Story of the AFL, All the Big Stories, All the Great Pictures, All the Champions, Every AFL Season Reported'', Viking, (Ringwood), 1996.

External links

*
DemonWiki profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keenan, Peter 1951 births Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Essendon Football Club players Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club Premiership players Living people One-time VFL/AFL Premiership players