John Phillip "Sean" Wight (15 March 1964 – 30 June 2011) was an Irish-Australian

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 in the

VFL/AFL 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 ...

. He is a member of the Melbourne Football Club Hall of Fame and was named as one of the 150 Heroes of the club during the club's 150th celebrations. The 185 cm tall, 85 kg Wight played for the

Melbourne Football Club The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons, is a professional Australian rules football club that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. It is based in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, ...

between 1985 and 1995, playing 150 games and scoring 63 goals. He is not only the first player to be associated with the

Irish experiment The Irish Experiment is the popular name for the interest, primarily from VFL/AFL clubs, in bringing Irish sportspeople, particularly Gaelic footballers, to Australia to play Australian rules football professionally. The AFL's focus on Gaeli ...

, but also considered to be one of its most successful products.

Early life

Wight was scouted by the Melbourne Football Club's

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 ...

and Barry Richardson on a visit to Ireland in 1982 as having the potential to play Australian rules football. Before playing Australian rules, he played Gaelic football with the

Kerry Kerry or Kerri may refer to: * Kerry (name), a given name and surname of Gaelic origin (including a list of people with the name) Places * Kerry, Queensland, Australia * County Kerry, Ireland ** Kerry Airport, an international airport in County ...

minor (Under-18) team which reached the final of the 1982

All-Ireland Minor Football Championship The Electric Ireland All-Ireland Minor Football Championship is the premier under-17 "knockout" competition in Gaelic football played in Ireland. 2017 was the final year of the minor under 18 football championship as it were replaced by an under ...

and with the

Listowel Emmets Listowel Emmets is a Gaelic Athletic Association club based in Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland. They play in Division 3 of the County Football league and in the Kerry Intermediate Football Championship. Players from the club also compete in the ...

club – the same club as

Tadhg Kennelly Tadhg Kennelly (born 1 July 1981) is an Irish-Australian former international sportsperson turned recruiter and coach. He is most known for his top-level careers in both Gaelic football and Australian rules football being the only holder of bot ...

. Wight was brought to Australia in 1983. He was part of an Under 19 VFL premiership side just weeks after his arrival from Ireland in 1983 and was widely hailed for his rapid conversion, though others who joined him from Ireland had much less success.

VFL/AFL career

Wight made his VFL debut in

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and became a regular backline player, recognisable with his trademark moustache. Wight played in two Demons night premiership winning sides, in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

. He began to develop a reputation as a dour defender, with an exceptional ability to not only spoil opponents marking attempts, but take high marks himself. Wight, along with fellow recruit

Jim Stynes James Stynes OAM (23 April 196620 March 2012) was an Irish-born footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football. Playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL), he went on to become o ...

was a member of Melbourne's

1988 VFL Grand Final The 1988 VFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the Hawthorn Football Club and the Melbourne Football Club, held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne on 24 September 1988. It was the 92nd annual Grand Fi ...

team which lost to

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 ...

. Retiring in

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 ...

, Wight's career was somewhat overshadowed by Stynes, whose career in the midfield earned more accolades and media attention. Wight died on 30 June 2011 after a short battle with

lung cancer Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissue (biology), tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from tran ...

.Ex-Demon Wight dies of cancer
ABC News, 30 June 2011.

References

1964 births 2011 deaths Australian Gaelic footballers Deaths from cancer in Victoria (Australia) Deaths from lung cancer Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish players of Australian rules football Kerry inter-county Gaelic footballers Listowel Emmets Gaelic footballers Melbourne Football Club players Scottish emigrants to Australia Scottish Gaelic footballers VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Scottish players of Australian rules football Sportspeople from Glasgow {{Kerry-gaelic-football-bio-stub

Early life

VFL/AFL career

See also

References