Ian Charles Cooper (2 April 1946 – 14 December 2021) was 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

footballer who played for St Kilda in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

during the 1960s.

Career

Ian Cooper kicked the first ever goal at Moorabbin in 1965, not far from a spot where his family had once camped. In a retrospective poll by a team of experts, Cooper was voted best on the field in the 1966 VFL Grand Final, which St Kilda won. It was St Kilda's first and (as of 2024) only VFL/AFL premiership by a margin of one point over Collingwood. Cooper's VFL career was cut short by

rheumatic fever Rheumatic fever (RF) is an inflammation#Disorders, inflammatory disease that can involve the heart, joints, skin, and brain. The disease typically develops two to four weeks after a Streptococcal pharyngitis, streptococcal throat infection. Si ...

. In 1970 and 1971, Cooper played for

Swan Districts The Swan Districts Football Club, nicknamed the Swans, is an Australian rules football club playing in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). The club is based at Bassendean Oval, in Bassendean, an eastern suburb ...

in the

West Australian National Football League The West Australian Football League (WAFL "waffle" or "W-A-F-L") is an Australian rules football league based in Perth, Western Australia. The league currently consists of ten teams, which play each other in a 20-round season usually lasting f ...

, and was a Western Australian state representative player. In 1972, he returned to Victoria and became a prominent full forward with the

Sandringham Football Club The Sandringham Football Club, nicknamed the Zebras, is an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Sandringham, Victoria, Sandringham. It currently competes in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the VFL Women's (VF ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

, where he played 35 games and kicked 73 goals. In 1973, he kicked 104 goals to be the VFA Division 1 leading goalkicker for the home-and-away season, although he was passed in the finals by

Jim 'Frosty' Miller Jim or JIM may refer to: Names * Jim (given name), a given name * Jim, a diminutive form of the given name James * Jim, a short form of the given name Jimmy People and horses * Jim, the nickname of Yelkanum Seclamatan (died April 1911), Nat ...

. Altogether, Cooper played 56 games for Sandringham between 1972 and 1975, and kicked 282 goals. His older brother

Graham Graham or Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan ...

played for Hawthorn in the early 1960s, appearing in that club's first premiership team.

Death

Ian fought valiantly against

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

for a long time before he died on 14 December 2021. He was 75 years old.

References

External links

* * * 1946 births 2021 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) St Kilda Football Club players St Kilda Football Club premiership players Sandringham Football Club players Swan Districts Football Club players VFL/AFL premiership players 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1940s-stub