: ''For information about the former St Kilda player named Peter Bell, see Peter R. Bell.'' Peter Francis Bell (born 1 March 1976) 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

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of ...

and the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

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 ...

. He played as a

rover Rover may refer to: People * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Places * Rover, Arkansas, US * Rover, Missouri, US * ...

(or follower). A former captain of the

, Bell was twice named as a member of the

All-Australian Team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

. He was an acclaimed ball-winner and had more than 30 possessions in a game on 39 occasions in his career. Bell has played more games and the third most goals of any AFL player born outside of Australia.

Early life

Bell was born in Cheju Island,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the son of a Korean mother, Kyung Ae and a Native Americans father of

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest federally recognized tribe in the United ...

descent.Peter Bell and the singular quest of Kyung Ae
from ABC Broadcast 5 August 2019 In 1979, he was adopted by an Australian couple who were in South Korea as

Christian missionaries A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...

. Bell spent his formative years in

Kojonup, Western Australia Kojonup is a town south-east of Perth, Western Australia along Albany Highway in the Great Southern (Western Australia), Great Southern region. The name Kojonup refers to the "Kodja" or stone axe made by Aboriginal Australians, from the local st ...

and began playing junior football at the age of 10 with Kojonup Cougars Junior Football Club.Bulldogs champion Peter Bell enters Australian Football Hall of Fame
4 June, 2015 As well as playing, he was a regular scoreboard attendant and also boundary umpired. At the age of 13, he broke his leg which had complications and required additional resetting.Peter Bell Class of 1993
/ref> He was educated at

Aquinas College, Perth , motto_translation = Truth ConquersMassam, p. 18 , location = Salter Point, Perth, Western Australia , country = Australia , patron = Saint Thomas Aquinas , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia Perth , pushpin_image ...

where he was a boarder. At Aquinas, he continued playing junior football from age 15 where he excelled, earning selection in the WA junior representative team. In 1994, he joined the

South Fremantle Football Club South Fremantle Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Fremantle, Western Australia. The club plays in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the WAFL Women's (WAFLW), commonly going by the nickname the ''Bulldogs ...

and had an immediate impact being named best and fairest. Despite being considered short by AFL standards at the time he was shortly after selected in the inaugural Fremantle Dockers AFL club list drawn from the local clubs. Bell became one of the first two players signed by the

Fremantle Dockers The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represent the port city of Fr ...

, which made its debut in the

the following year.

AFL career

Fremantle (1995)

Despite kicking two goals with his first two kicks in AFL football, Bell failed to make an impression on Dockers' coach

Gerard Neesham Gerard Joseph Neesham (born 11 December 1954) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and for the East Fremantle Football Club, Swan Districts Football Club and Claremont ...

, who regarded him as too slow a runner to be a successful AFL player. Bell was selected for only two games in 1995.

North Melbourne (1996–2000)

He was delisted at the end of that season, worked hard to improve his leg speed, and was picked up in the 1996 Pre-season draft, by

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 ...

, where he achieved regular selection and acclaim for his courageous, energetic and skilled performances under coach

Denis Pagan Denis Leslie Pagan (born 24 September 1947) is a former Australian rules football coach and player in the VFL/AFL. Pagan is a dual AFL premiership coach, and he also won the prestigious Victoria derby in 2020 as a trainer and owner of the horse ...

. Bell was a premiership player with the Kangaroos in 1996 and 1999, and was named an

All-Australian The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...

on the bench in 1999. He scored four goals and had 31 possessions in the 1999 Grand Final to be one of the Roos best on the day. In 2000, he won the North Melbourne best and fairest award, the Syd Barker Medal.

Fremantle (2001–2008)

At the end of 2000, Fremantle sought his return and Bell was traded back to his original club. As it happened, 2001 was a disastrous season for the Dockers, winning the "wooden spoon" and culminating in the dismissal of coach

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election as a member of The Nationals. Drum served as the Assistant Mi ...

. Bell won the

Doig Medal The Doig Medal is the best and fairest award given out to the player considered best and fairest during a season for the Fremantle Football Club in the AFL. It was renamed in 2000 after the legendary Fremantle footballing family, the Doigs, who ...

for the Dockers'

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

player that year, and was one of the very few shining lights in a season where the Dockers recorded just two victories. These two wins were in part due to outstanding performances from Bell, who gathered thirty-eight possessions and two goals against

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

in round 18, and forty-four disposals and three goals against

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

in round 22. The following year he was appointed captain and in 2003 the club made the finals for the first time. Bell was once again an All-Australian, this time as a follower. He continued his good form into 2004, winning another Doig Medal. However, Fremantle's team performances were not as good, and in both 2004 and 2005 they narrowly missed making the finals. 2006 started poorly, but Bell was a leading player in Freo's record setting 9-game winning streak to finish in the top four for the first time, and also a member of the team that beat

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 ...

in the second semi final to record Fremantle's first ever finals game win. Despite offering to hand over the captaincy to

Matthew Pavlich Matthew Pavlich (born 31 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A versatile player, Pavlich is widely regarded as one of the premi ...

in 2003, he remained captain for five seasons until the end of the 2006 season. At

Subiaco Oval Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood. Subiaco Oval was the high ...

, enthusiastic supporters rang a bell (a play on his surname) whenever Bell got a possession. Bell has the exact bell which was rung so enthusiastically on his sideboard in his current home. He was president of the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFL PA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFL PA promotes and protects its membe ...

from 2003 until the beginning of 2007. Fremantle running through banner

Bell announced his immediate retirement on 7 July 2008, having played his last game in the club's Round 14 loss to

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 ...

. He played 286 games with North Melbourne and Fremantle.

Playing statistics

, - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, , 32 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0 , , 5 , , 4 , , 9 , , 0 , , 1 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.5 , , 2.0 , , 4.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, , 26 , , 23 , , 23 , , 11 , , 187 , , 128 , , 315 , , 36 , , 21 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 8.1 , , 5.6 , , 13.7 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 24 , , 16 , , 281 , , 182 , , 463 , , 69 , , 36 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 11.2 , , 7.3 , , 18.5 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 17 , , 14 , , 327 , , 215 , , 542 , , 67 , , 43 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 13.1 , , 8.6 , , 21.7 , , 2.7 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 32 , , 20 , , 427 , , 195 , , 622 , , 96 , , 48 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 17.1 , , 7.8 , , 24.9 , , 3.8 , , 1.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 24 , , 19 , , 387 , , 262 , , 649 , , 107 , , 75 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 15.5 , , 10.5 , , 26.0 , , 4.3 , , 3.0 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, , 32 , , 19 , , 14 , , 10 , , 313 , , 214 , , 527 , , 83 , , 52 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 16.5 , , 11.3 , , 27.7 , , 4.4 , , 2.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, , 32 , , 22 , , 11 , , 10 , , 308 , , 264 , , 572 , , 77 , , 47 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 14.0 , , 12.0 , , 26.0 , , 3.5 , , 2.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, , 32 , , 23 , , 20 , , 9 , , 354 , , 242 , , 596 , , 111 , , 72 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 15.4 , , 10.5 , , 25.9 , , 4.8 , , 3.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, , 32 , , 21 , , 22 , , 12 , , 279 , , 215 , , 494 , , 81 , , 56 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 13.3 , , 10.2 , , 23.5 , , 3.9 , , 2.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, , 32 , , 18 , , 12 , , 8 , , 251 , , 171 , , 422 , , 91 , , 69 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 13.9 , , 9.5 , , 23.4 , , 5.1 , , 3.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, , 32 , , 23 , , 14 , , 12 , , 306 , , 236 , , 542 , , 116 , , 76 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 13.3 , , 10.3 , , 23.6 , , 5.0 , , 3.3 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

, , 32 , , 22 , , 28 , , 12 , , 266 , , 218 , , 484 , , 102 , , 63 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 12.1 , , 9.9 , , 22.0 , , 4.6 , , 2.9 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

, 32 , , 13 , , 7 , , 4 , , 127 , , 157 , , 284 , , 54 , , 41 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 9.8 , , 12.1 , , 21.8 , , 4.2 , , 3.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 286 ! 250 ! 157 ! 3818 ! 2703 ! 6521 ! 1090 ! 700 ! 0.9 ! 0.5 ! 13.3 ! 9.5 ! 22.8 ! 3.8 ! 2.4

Post player career

Bell was educated at the

University of Western Australia The University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Perth, the state capital, with a secondary campus in Albany, Western Australia, Albany an ...

, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. In 2013, Bell joined radio broadcaster

6PR 6PR, known as 882 6PR, is a commercial radio station based in Perth, Western Australia. Owned by Nine Entertainment, its focus is on news, talk and sport, and is Perth's only commercial talkback radio station. It commenced broadcasting on 14 Oc ...

as host of the afternoon slot, alongside his match day special comments for AFL games on the station. In 2016, he moved to

ABC Radio Perth ABC Radio Perth (call sign: 6WF) is the on-air identifier of a radio station located in Perth, Western Australia, operated by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and broadcasting at 720 kHz AM. It is the flagship ABC Local Radio station ...

to host the weekday breakfast program. He also did some AFL coverage for the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, and is one of ...

. In September 2018, Bell was appointed general manager of the Fremantle Football Club, and resigned from his radio and television roles.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Peter 1976 births Living people VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Australian people of American descent Australian people of Korean descent Fremantle Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club Premiership players South Fremantle Football Club players South Korean people of American descent South Korean emigrants to Australia Western Australian State of Origin players All-Australians (AFL) Doig Medal winners Syd Barker Medal winners People educated at Aquinas College, Perth University of Western Australia alumni Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Fremantle Football Club captains Australian radio presenters Australia international rules football team players Australian adoptees Fremantle Football Club administrators Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players