Brian Kann (21 July 1933 – 21 May 2019) was an

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 with Hawthorn 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 ...

(VFL). Kann, who went to

Melbourne High School Melbourne High School is a Education in Australia#Government schools, government-funded Single-sex education, single-sex Selective school, academically selective secondary school, secondary day school for boys, located in the Melbourne suburb ...

, started out in the Hawthorn Colts. He played senior football at Hawthorn for six seasons, from 1954 to 1959. A defender, Kann was part of Hawthorn's historic 1957 side, which qualified for the VFL finals for the first time in the club's history. He played in Hawthorn's semi final win over Carlton and preliminary final loss to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

. Over the next two years, Kann made only seven league appearances, but did captain the Hawthorn reserves to the 1958 and 1959 premierships. In 1960, Kann was captain-coach of

Moorabbin Moorabbin is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 15 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Kingston local government area. Moorabbin recorded a population of 6,287 at the . Most of the e ...

, which finished the regular season in sixth position, to make 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 ...

finals. They were eliminated from the finals by Yarraville, at the quarter-final stage. Also a district cricketer, Kann played for the

Fitzroy Cricket Club The Fitzroy Doncaster Cricket Club, nicknamed the Lions, play cricket in the elite club competition of Melbourne, Australia, known as Victorian Premier Cricket. The club was formed by a 1986 amalgamation of Fitzroy Cricket Club, a foundation mem ...

and in his youth represented the Victorian Schoolboys. He was a member of Fitzroy's 1953/54 premiership side. In 1995, his son Julien Kann was initiator and founder of the Munich Kangaroos in Germany, as well as founding member of the Australian Football League Germany in 1999.Christian Stüwe: ''Kangaroos gegen Emus im Hirschgarten – Australian Football: Eine Vollkontakt-Sportart, die aussieht wie Rugby, feiert in München bald 20-jähriges Jubiläum'', Münchner Merkur, 23 June 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kann, Brian 1933 births 2019 deaths Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Hawthorn Football Club players Moorabbin Football Club players Moorabbin Football Club coaches Fitzroy cricketers