Ian Downsborough (born 19 January 1972) 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 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 ...

Early life

Downsborough grew up in

Burracoppin, Western Australia Burracoppin is a townsite on the Great Eastern Highway, east of Merredin in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. History The town was gazetted in 1891. It takes its name from Burracoppin Rock, a nearby granite rock, the name of which wa ...

on a sheep and wheat farm. He went to primary school in Burracoppin and high school in nearby Merredin, graduating in 1989 Ian then worked on the family farm and played for Burracoppin Cats in the

Eastern Districts Football League The Eastern Districts Football League is an Australian rules football league based in the eastern Wheatbelt (Western Australia), Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. The league stretches from Southern Cross, Western Australia, Southern Cross ...

until 1993 when he went to play for

West Perth Football Club The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia. West Perth competes in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and WAFL Women's (WAFLW) and is the oldest exis ...

Career

After two seasons with West Perth he was drafted by West Coast at pick 54 in the 1994 AFL draft. He played one game for the Eagles in 1995 but won the

WAFL Grand Final This is a list of the West Australian Football League premiers, the premier state-based Australian rules football league in Western Australia, and includes premiers of the Western Australian Football Association (1885–1906), West Australian Foo ...

with West Perth.

West Coast

1996 was a successful season for Downsborough, he played as an undersized ruckman replacing Ryan Turnbull. He played 19 games including the Eagles qualifying final vs Carlton but he was dropped for the semi-final. At the end of 1996 Downsborough was signed by the incoming

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

as a free agent. West Coast also traded

Shane Bond Shane Edward Bond (born 7 June 1975) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer and present bowling coach of Rajasthan Royals, described as "New Zealand's best fast bowler since Sir Richard Hadlee", and often among the greatest fast b ...

and Brayden Lyle to the Power to ensure the Eagles could get the #1 pick in the

1996 AFL draft The 1996 AFL draft was held at the conclusion of the 1996 Australian Football League (AFL) season. The inaugural rookie draft was held with the 1997 pre-season draft. The AFL draft is the annual draft of new unsigned players by Australian rul ...

as compensation for losing Downsborough. West Coast received #1 ( Michael Gardiner) and #24 ( Josh Wooden).

Port Adelaide

Illness virtually wiped out his 1997 season, only playing 7 games for the Power, after this Port Adelaide traded him to the

Adelaide Football Club The Adelaide Football Club, nicknamed the Crows, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Adelaide, South Australia that was founded in 1990. The Crows have fielded a men's team in the Australian Football League (AFL) since 199 ...

for Brett Chalmers.

Adelaide

Downsborough remained a backup option for the Crows in 1998 missing out on playing in their Grand Final win. In 1999 he mostly played with Norwood once again and was delisted. He played 30 games and kicked 21 goals from 1997 to 1999 for Norwood. Ian went back to Western Australia and played 2000 with West Perth only managing 6 games. He then returned to Burracoppin, playing and coaching for the Cats.

References

External links

* * * West Coast Eagles players Port Adelaide Football Club players Port Adelaide Football Club players (all competitions) Adelaide Football Club players West Perth Football Club players 1972 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Western Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{AFL-bio-1970s-stub