Matthew "Matt" Spangher (born 23 April 1987) 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

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

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). Spangher is a key position player that can play as a forward or a defender. His career was hampered by injuries.

Career

Spangher was recruited by as the number 34 draft pick in the 2005 AFL Draft from

Eastern Ranges The Eastern Ranges is an Australian rules football team that currently competes in the Talent League, the Victorian statewide under-18s competition. History Inaugural playing squad (1992) Honours *Premiers (2): 2002, 2013 *Runners-up (6): 199 ...

. In 2006, he only played one WAFL reserves game for East Fremantle, before sustaining a groin injury which kept him out for the rest of the season. In 2007, he played the season with East Fremantle in the WAFL, as a defender. After his WAFL performances in the first 3 rounds of 2008, he made his AFL debut for the West Coast Eagles in the round 4, who had a 62-point loss to Sydney at ANZ Stadium, picking up 12 disposals and 7 marks. Spangher flagged his intentions to move home to Victoria at the end of 2009 but the club convinced him to sign a one-year deal for 2010. Had some success being the club’s third tall defender and played eight games in season 2010 before getting delisted. Hawthorn had asked him to attend preseason training in the hope of drafting him. He was taken by the

in the 2010 Draft. His first game for the Swans was against the in Round 16, 2011. The result was a 70-point win to the Swans. After playing the last five games for Sydney in 2011, he was unable to get a game in 2012. He was traded to for pick 66 in the 2012 AFL draft. He made his debut for Hawthorn in the round 8, 2013 clash against in

Launceston, Tasmania Launceston () is a city in the north of Tasmania, Australia, at the confluence of the North Esk River, North Esk and South Esk River, South Esk rivers where they become the Tamar River, Tasmania, Tamar River (kanamaluka). As of 2021, the Launc ...

. Spangher then played against St Kilda and Sydney in the home and away rounds before playing against Sydney again in the first week of the finals. Spangher played his first game for 2014 in round 3 against Fremantle, before suffering a major ankle injury in round 4 against Gold Coast. He returned against his old club West Coast in round 12, being one of Hawthon's best players, with 22 disposals including 7 contested marks. Spangher again put in a strong performance the next week against Carlton, and continued his form against Collingwood. In the 2014 Grand Final, after witnessing premierships at West Coast in 2006, Sydney in 2012, and being an emergency in the Hawks 2013 win, Spangher was finally picked in his first Grand Final, and won his first premiership. During the medal ceremony, MC Craig Willis made reference to his incredible journey. At the conclusion of the 2016 season, he was delisted by Hawthorn.

Cult hero

Spangher's move to the Hawks has been greeted with "cult hero" status. In mid 2013, a

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fan page titled "Sir Matthew Spangher" was created, that as of September 2015 has over 14,000 followers. Spangher's popularity amongst players and fans was shown with overwhelming applause and chants whenever he went near the ball during the VFL Grand Final for Box Hill. "It's interesting isn't it. It's nice, but I don't think it's deserved," he said of the attention. With Spangher's appearances in the 2014 season, members of the media began to draw more attention to the fans growing affection, with members of the media also happy to play into the image. Herald Sun journalist Jon Ralph wrote "Let’s face it, when you look half rock god and half Jesus, men want to be you and women want to be with you." Spangher has gained the nickname "Fabio" from 3AW due to his long hair. After finally claiming his first premiership in 2014, Hawthorn fans chanted his name, and demanded he speak to the fans at the premiership party, before fan favourite Cyril Rioli.

Statistics

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2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

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2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

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2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

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2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

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2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

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Honours and achievements

Team * AFL premiership player ():

Minor premiership A minor premiership is the title given to the team which finishes a sporting competition first in the league standings after the regular season but prior to commencement of the finals in several Australian sports leagues. Origins The etymolo ...

():

* VFL premiership player (): 2013 * Minor premiership ():

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Spangher, Matthew 1987 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) East Fremantle Football Club players West Coast Eagles players Sydney Swans players Hawthorn Football Club players Hawthorn Football Club premiership players Box Hill Football Club players Eastern Ranges players People educated at Xavier College VFL/AFL premiership players 21st-century Australian sportsmen