Benjamin Thomas Allan (born 15 October 1968) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played for the

Hawthorn Football Club The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Mulgrave, Victoria, that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL). The club was founded in 1902 in the inner-east suburb of Hawth ...

and

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, 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 represen ...

in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

(AFL), and for the

Claremont Football Club The Claremont Football Club, nicknamed Tigers, is an Australian rules football club based in Claremont, Western Australia, that currently plays in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW). Its official colours are na ...

in the

West Australian 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 ...

(WAFL). In a short but decorated playing career, Allan was appointed the inaugural captain of Fremantle, and is one of only two footballers to have won three consecutive

Simpson Medal The Simpson Medal is an individual prize awarded for Australian rules football in Western Australia. The medal has been donated by Dr Fred Simpson and family since 1945. Simpson Medals are currently awarded to the following players: *The best pl ...

s, the other being

Barry Cable Barry Thomas Cable MBE (born 22 September 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. Considered one of the greatest rovers in the sport's history, he played in 379 premiership games in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL ...

. He won the medal in 1988 and 1990 for being the best player in a State of Origin match involving Western Australia, and in 1989 as best on ground in the WAFL Grand Final.

Early life

Allan was educated at Aquinas College,

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

Playing career

He played as a

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

(or follower). He was a premiership player with

Claremont Claremont may refer to: Places Australia *Claremont, Ipswich, a heritage-listed house in Queensland * Claremont, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart * Claremont, Western Australia, a suburb of Perth * Town of Claremont, Perth * Claremont Airbase, an ...

in the WAFL before be drafted to the

in the

where he played 98 games and won their

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 ...

in 1991 as well as a premiership. He was 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-perfo ...

player in 1993 and 1994.

Fremantle career

Having previously coached Allan at Claremont,

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 Clare ...

the inaugural

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

senior coach, targeted Allan to return to Western Australia. As the most experienced and highly decorated player in the initial 45 man squad, he was named Fremantle's first captain. He was the only former All-Australian, the only club best-and-fairest winner and one of only 2 former premiership players in the original Fremantle squad of 50 He played all 22 games in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and finished third in the

award. In the Round 5 match against at

Whitten Oval Whitten Oval (also known as Mission Whitten Oval under a naming rights agreement) is a stadium in the inner-western suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, located in Barkly Street, Footscray. It is the training and administrative headquart ...

, he had the chance to win the game with a kick after the final siren from 70 metres out. Reflecting on the game in an interview for Fremantle's official website in 2019, Allan shared his thoughts as he was lining up to take the kick:

“I took a mark and the siren went and I had the shot – it was like the dream had come true. I thought to myself ‘there's a bit of a breeze here going right to left, if I can just punch this at the right goal post I reckon I can kick it.’ I used to try torpedo punts quite a bit during games and it was just the classic opportunity to let one rip. I reckon if I hit it pure on the ball I could have made the distance with that little breeze.”

The kick fell short, allowing the Bulldogs to escape with a two-point victory. Injuries took their toll in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, restricting Allan to 8 games for the season. In 1997 he relinquished the captaincy to Peter Mann and managed to play 17 games. However, a degenerative knee condition caused Allan to retire from football at the end of the 1997 season. He had played 145 AFL games in total, along with 66 for Claremont and 6 state games, earning him a position in the WA Football Two Hundred Club.

Coaching

Allan stayed at the club as an assistant coach in 1998. When it became clear that inaugural senior coach

would not coach Fremantle in 1999, Allan tendered his resignation pending the appointment of a replacement. When interviewed by new senior coach Damian Drum, he was told no position would be available. His disappointment was obvious, telling the media: :"this is a real kick in the teeth. I saw my involvement at the club as long-term. It was a huge decision to leave Hawthorn and it seems everything has gone sour since. My career was cut short by injury and now this. It is very hard to swallow. This means Drum and the club believe I have nothing to offer – or they have made a huge mistake. The only thing that has kept me buoyed is the fact that in this industry all players and coaches get kicked in the guts at some stage." Ironically, three years later Allan was called on as caretaker senior coach to replace

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 The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...

who was sacked after the team's 10th consecutive loss, a diabolical performance against the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a Austral ...

at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

in round nine, 2001. Despite his role three years previously as assistant coach, Allan did not view the appointment as leading to a permanent position. On being made senior coach, he told the media: :"I'm not in a caretaker role to try to further my career for next year. If you look at the history of caretaker coaches, they all wanted to have a crack at it for the next year. I'm there to help out. It gives the club time to look for someone who's been there and done that and then I can go off on my merry way. If we win every game for the rest of the year I still won't be the senior coach next year." Fremantle won two of the remaining 13 matches with Allan as caretaker senior coach and finished last on the AFL ladder. Allan as the caretaker senior coach was demanding rather than inspiring and was openly critical of the playing group. At the press conference after a home loss to Port Adelaide he told the media:

"if they are looking for me to motivate them for the next eight weeks, they are barking up the wrong tree ... clearly out there today we had too many out there today who haven't got strong enough character".

Nevertheless, a dispirited playing group stayed reasonably competitive in many of the remaining games of the season. Allan's two victories were both notable: the first was in Round 18 against at

Colonial Stadium Docklands Stadium, known by naming rights sponsorship as Marvel Stadium, is a multi-purpose sports and entertainment stadium in the suburb of Docklands in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Construction started in October 1997 and was completed ...

, which broke an 18-match, 370-day losing series of matches (and, until round 17, 2021, would be the last time that Fremantle defeated Hawthorn outside of Western Australia), and the second was in the final match of the season against . The joyous spirit of this game, played in front of a smallish but passionate crowd in night rain at

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

, was rejuvenating for the club and its supporters after the gloom of the Damian Drum years. The new optimism was built on with the appointment of the new senior coach for 2002, Chris Connolly, who replaced Allan as Fremantle Football Club senior coach and the exciting victories and growing crowds that and the subsequent years brought.

Statistics

Playing statistics

: , - , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, , , , 37 , 6 , , 3 , , 4 , , 41 , , 13 , , 54 , , 11 , , 13 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 6.8 , , 2.2 , , 9.0 , , 1.8 , , 2.2 , , 0 , - , scope="row" bgcolor=F0E68C ,

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

^# , , , , 15 , 25 , , 18 , , 19 , , 350 , , 134 , , 484 , , 72 , , 53 , , 0.7 , , 0.8 , , 14.0 , , 5.4 , , 19.4 , , 2.9 , , 2.1 , , 1 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, , , , 15 , 23 , , 12 , , 15 , , 382 , , 132 , , 514 , , 88 , , 30 , , 0.5 , , 0.7 , , 16.6 , , 5.7 , , 22.3 , , 3.8 , , 1.3 , , 5 , - , scope="row" ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, , , , 15 , 21 , , 20 , , 14 , , 412 , , 109 , , 521 , , 121 , , 42 , , 1.0 , , 0.7 , , 19.6 , , 5.2 , , 24.8 , , 5.8 , , 2.0 , , 11 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, , , , 15 , 23 , , 19 , , 17 , , 390 , , 123 , , 513 , , 101 , , 28 , , 0.8 , , 0.7 , , 17.0 , , 5.3 , , 22.3 , , 4.4 , , 1.2 , , 3 , - , scope="row" ,

, , , , 7 , 22 , , 15 , , 16 , , 370 , , 107 , , 477 , , 84 , , 34 , , 0.7 , , 0.7 , , 16.8 , , 4.9 , , 21.7 , , 3.8 , , 1.5 , , 9 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

, , , , 7 , 8 , , 2 , , 4 , , 87 , , 20 , , 107 , , 23 , , 9 , , 0.3 , , 0.5 , , 10.9 , , 2.5 , , 13.4 , , 2.9 , , 1.1 , , 0 , - , scope="row" ,

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, , , , 7 , 17 , , 17 , , 11 , , 194 , , 57 , , 251 , , 65 , , 11 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 11.4 , , 3.4 , , 14.8 , , 3.8 , , 0.6 , , 1 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 145 !! 106 !! 100 !! 2226 !! 695 !! 2921 !! 565 !! 220 !! 0.7 !! 0.7 !! 15.4 !! 4.8 !! 20.1 !! 3.9 !! 1.5 !! 30

Coaching statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" , scope="row" ,

2001 The year's most prominent event was 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. The United States led a Participan ...

, , , 13 , , 2 , , 11 , , 0 , , 15.4% , , 16 , , 16 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=2, Career totals ! 13 !! 2 !! 11 !! 0 !! 15.4% ! colspan=2,

After football

Allan has had an active media career in print, on radio and on TV, including

The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

Radio,

6PR 6PR, known as 6PR Perth, 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 ...

, SEN and the now defunct

Fox Footy Channel The Fox Footy Channel was a channel exclusively dedicated to Australian rules football. It was owned by Foxtel and operated out of their Melbourne-based studios. From 2002 to 2006 it was available on Foxtel, Austar, Optus Television, Trans ...

. Outside of football he has become a successful businessman in the

Margaret River The Margaret River is a river in southwest Australia, southwest Western Australia. In a small catchment, it is the eponym of the town and tourist region of Margaret River, Western Australia, Margaret River. The river arises from a catchment ...

wine industry. In 2005 he was elected to the Members position on the board of the Fremantle Football Club. He will hold that position for 2 years before all Fremantle Season Ticket holding members over 18 years vote again. In March 2012, Allan was inducted into the

West Australian Football Hall of Fame The West Australian Football Hall of Fame was created in 2002 to recognise significant contributors to Australian rules football in Western Australia. Candidates are players, coaches, umpires, administrators and media representatives. The induct ...

. He is the first former player to be inducted.

Personal life

He is the brother of

Packed to the Rafters ''Packed to the Rafters'' is an Australian family-oriented comedy drama television program which premiered on the Seven Network on Tuesday 26 August 2008 at 8:30 pm. The show continued on Tuesdays in this timeslot for its entire run. The dr ...

actor Jacob Allan. His son,

Edward Edward is an English male name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortunate; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-S ...

was drafted in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

by Collingwood.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Ben 1968 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Claremont Football Club players Fremantle Football Club coaches Fremantle Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players Peter Crimmins Medal winners Western Australian State of Origin players People educated at Aquinas College, Perth Australian rules footballers from Perth, Western Australia Fremantle Football Club administrators West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Fremantle Football Club captains VFL/AFL premiership players