Ross Thornton (born 23 October 1956) is a former
Australian rules
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 ...
footballer who played with
Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to:
People As a given name
*Several members of the Somerset family (Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name:
**FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855)
** Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...
in the
VFL during the 1980s.
Thornton originally arrived at Fitzroy in 1975 but was unable to make the seniors so joined
VFA club
Prahran
Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...
. He returned to Fitzroy in 1980 and became a regular fixture in their defence for the rest of the decade, usually occupying a
back pocket
In the sport of Australian rules football, each of the eighteen players in a team is assigned to a particular named position on the field of play. These positions describe both the player's main role and by implication their location on the gro ...
from where he liked to run the ball up the ground. A personal highlight came in 1984 when he won Fitzroy's
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 ...
award.
In 2003 he was selected in
Prahran
Prahran (), also pronounced colloquially as Pran, is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City ...
's Team of the Century.
Thornton appeared on
the second season of ''
The Amazing Race Australia
''The Amazing Race Australia'' is an Australian adventure reality game show based on the international ''Amazing Race'' franchise. Following the premise of other versions of the format, the show follows teams of two as they race around the wor ...
'' with his daughter Tarryn, and was eliminated in 8th place in Turkey on Episode 6.
References
*
*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim (2007). ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers''. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thornton, Ross
1956 births
Living people
Fitzroy Football Club players
Mitchell Medal winners
Prahran Football Club players
Camperdown Football Club players
Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)
The Amazing Race contestants