Michael Kevin O'Loughlin (born 20 February 1977) is a former professional

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 his entire

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 ...

career with 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 ...

. O'Loughlin was named a member of the

Indigenous Team of the Century The Indigenous Team of the Century was selected in 2005 to recognise the role of Indigenous Australians in Australian rules football. Graham Farmer was named as the team's captain, while Barry Cable was selected as the team's coach. Eight of t ...

. He was the third player with Indigenous heritage to play 300 AFL games. He twice achieved

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 ...

selection, played for Australia twice in the

International Rules Series The International Rules Series is a senior men's international rules football competition between the Australia international rules football team (selected by the Australian Football League) and the Ireland international rules football team ...

, and was a Fos Williams Medallist as best player for South Australia in State of Origin. O'Loughlin was the first Sydney Swans player to play more than 300 career games. In 303 games he kicked 521 career goals.

Early life

Michael Kevin O'Loughlin was born on 20 February 1977. His parents never married, so he was given his mother's maiden name of O'Loughlin, which came from her Irish great-great-great-grandfather. He supported Carlton Blues growing up. O'Loughlin's ancestors were

Czech Jews The history of the Jews in the Czech lands, historically the Lands of the Bohemian Crown, including the modern Czech Republic (i.e. Bohemia, Moravia, and the southeast or Czech Silesia), goes back at least 1100 years. There is evidence that ...

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

(

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

and

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

), Irish and English. He is a descendant (the great great great grandson) of Kudnarto (c.1832–1855), the Kaurna woman who made history by being the first Aboriginal woman to marry a British settler in the

colony of South Australia A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their '' metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often or ...

in 1848. He grew up in

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, and first played junior football with Central District in the

SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

AFL career

Selected in the third round of the 1994 National Draft, O'Loughlin played 12 senior games for the Swans in 1995 and earned an

AFL Rising Star award The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 AFL Rising Star, 1993 season, and ...

nomination. The following year, he was a key player in the team that won the minor premiership and then lost to

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

in the grand final. He was the games record holder for the Swans, passing John Rantall's VFL/AFL record in Round 14 of the 2007 season and Bill Windley's 102-year-old overall club record in the Elimination Final of that year, until he was overtaken by his cousin

Adam Goodes Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...

. He became the first Sydney Swans/South Melbourne player to break the 300 games milestone in Round 19, 2009. O'Loughlin played the majority of his early football in a half-forward flanker role, where his combination of speed, strength and agility made him a difficult player for opposing teams to match up against. He was known by the nickname "Magic" throughout his career, in recognition of his capacity to play football so skillfully that it could sometimes seem he had "cast a spell" on his opponents. He was also known by the nickname, "Micky O". In the latter part of his career, he was primarily used as Sydney's full-forward. In 2000 and 2001, he was the club's leading goalkicker. He was club

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 1998 and runner-up in 2000. He was selected in the

All Australian Team The All-Australian team is an all-star team of 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-performed players during the season, traditio ...

in 1997 and 2000. When State of Origin matches were still being played, he represented his state on several occasions, receiving the Fos Williams Medal for best South Australian player in 1998. In 2005, he was selected alongside Sydney Swans teammate and cousin Adam Goodes in the

. O'Loughlin was chosen for the full-forward position. He described this honour as the highlight of his career, alongside the 2005 premiership. O'Loughlin, the only player remaining in the team from the 1996 loss, played strongly during the 2005 grand final, including a number of exceptional marks. However, and uncharacteristically, his kicking for goal during the game was inaccurate. In 2006, O'Loughlin continued to be a key part of the Swans' line-up, including playing a decisive role in the qualifying and preliminary finals that put the Swans into the grand final for the second consecutive year. In the close qualifying Final against the

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 ...

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, ...

, O'Loughlin ran into an open goal, then carried on to the fence and roared into the faces of some rather stunned-looking Eagles' fans from a few inches away. The moment is captured in Jamie Cooper's painting ''the Game That Made Australia'', commissioned by the AFL in 2008 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the sport. In the 2006 Grand Final, O'Loughlin played well, kicking 3.1 (19). He continued to play consistently well for Sydney through the balance of his career. On 23 June 2009, O'Loughlin announced that at the end of the 2009 season, he would retire. He played his 300th game in round 19 at the MCG against the Richmond Tigers.

Recognition and awards

AFL Rising Star The AFL Rising Star is an Australian rules football award presented annually to the player adjudged the best young player in the Australian Football League (AFL) for the year. It was first presented in the 1993 season, and was won by Nathan Bu ...

nominee 1995 *

1997, 2000 *

1997, 2000 * Fos Williams Medal 1998 * Bob Skilton Medal 1998 *

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 ...

for Sydney (AFL) 1998 * Runner up, Best and Fairest Sydney (AFL) 2000 * Sydney Swans Leading goalkicker 2000, 2001 * Sydney Swans Premiership player 2005 * Sydney Swans Hall of Fame * Outstanding achievement in AFL 2005 ( The Deadlys) *

member * Outstanding achievement in AFL 2009 (The Deadlys)Vibe, Vibe Alive, The Deadlys, GJC, 3 on 3
. Vibe.com.au (19 May 2012). Retrieved 3 June 2012. * Male Sportsperson of the Year 2009 (The Deadlys) * AFLPA Madden Medallist *

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the 1996 AFL season, centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media pe ...

inductee, 2015 * SA Football Hall of Fame inductee, 2017

Statistics

: ''*10 games required to be eligible.'' , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;",

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, 38 , , 11 , , 12 , , 4 , , 62 , , 52 , , 114 , , 24 , , 16 , , 1.1 , , 0.4 , , 5.6 , , 4.7 , , 10.4 , , 2.2 , , 1.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 25 , , 21 , , 14 , , 228 , , 153 , , 381 , , 109 , , 45 , , 0.8 , , 0.6 , , 9.1 , , 6.1 , , 15.2 , , 4.4 , , 1.8 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 23 , , 26 , , 14 , , 270 , , 117 , , 387 , , 85 , , 41 , , 1.1 , , 0.6 , , 11.7 , , 5.1 , , 16.8 , , 3.7 , , 1.8 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 24 , , 40 , , 25 , , 289 , , 130 , , 419 , , 129 , , 28 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , 12.0 , , 5.4 , , 17.5 , , 5.4 , , 1.2 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 18 , , 26 , , 18 , , 167 , , 69 , , 236 , , 81 , , 20 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , 9.3 , , 3.8 , , 13.1 , , 4.5 , , 1.1 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 22 , , 53 , , 24 , , 282 , , 122 , , 404 , , 142 , , 23 , , 2.4 , , 1.1 , , 12.8 , , 5.5 , , 18.4 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 23 , , 35 , , 29 , , 279 , , 111 , , 390 , , 128 , , 36 , , 1.5 , , 1.3 , , 12.1 , , 4.8 , , 17.0 , , 5.6 , , 1.6 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 19 , , 30 , , 11 , , 181 , , 106 , , 287 , , 92 , , 33 , , 1.6 , , 0.6 , , 9.5 , , 5.6 , , 15.1 , , 4.8 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 16 , , 41 , , 20 , , 132 , , 55 , , 187 , , 90 , , 16 , , 2.6 , , 1.3 , , 8.3 , , 3.4 , , 11.7 , , 5.6 , , 1.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 18 , , 38 , , 18 , , 144 , , 40 , , 184 , , 99 , , 19 , , 2.1 , , 1.0 , , 8.0 , , 2.2 , , 10.2 , , 5.5 , , 1.1 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 23 , , 52 , , 26 , , 188 , , 68 , , 256 , , 104 , , 30 , , 2.3 , , 1.1 , , 8.2 , , 3.0 , , 11.1 , , 4.5 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 25 , , 47 , , 32 , , 219 , , 82 , , 301 , , 138 , , 37 , , 1.9 , , 1.3 , , 8.8 , , 3.3 , , 12.0 , , 5.5 , , 1.5 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 23 , , 40 , , 14 , , 182 , , 84 , , 266 , , 112 , , 32 , , 1.7 , , 0.6 , , 7.9 , , 3.7 , , 11.6 , , 4.9 , , 1.4 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 16 , , 36 , , 21 , , 126 , , 66 , , 192 , , 90 , , 19 , , 2.3 , , 1.3 , , 7.9 , , 4.1 , , 12.0 , , 5.6 , , 1.2 , - style="background:#eaeaea;" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 19 , , 17 , , 24 , , 16 , , 131 , , 63 , , 194 , , 95 , , 30 , , 1.4 , , 0.9 , , 7.7 , , 3.7 , , 11.4 , , 5.6 , , 1.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 303 ! 521 ! 286 ! 2880 ! 1318 ! 4198 ! 1518 ! 425 ! 1.7 ! 0.9 ! 9.5 ! 4.3 ! 13.8 ! 5.0 ! 1.4

Post-AFL career

O'Loughlin was awarded the 2009 AFL Players' Association Madden for his on and off-field contributions to the game. In 2010 O'Loughlin coached the Flying Boomerangs Indigenous side during their

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

tour, leading the side to victory against the South Africa National Australian Rules Football Team. He was later named coach of the World 18 for the AFL National Under 16 Championships. In 2011 he was named as coach of the Indigenous All-Stars team for their biennial game, this time against the Richmond Tigers. O'Loughlin also represented South Australia against Victoria in the State of Origin Slowdown charity match at the

Adelaide Oval The Adelaide Oval is a stadium in Adelaide in the state of South Australia. It is located in the Adelaide Parklands, parklands. The venue is predominantly used for cricket and Australian rules football, but has also played host to rugby league, ...

on 3 October 2011. Both teams were composed of retired players with the match supporting both the Little Heroes Foundation and the Reach Foundation youth charities started by former

Melbourne Demons The Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Demons or colloquially the Dees, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier comp ...

star player, the late

Jim Stynes James Peter Stynes OAM (23 April 196620 March 2012) was an Irish footballer who converted from Gaelic football to Australian rules football and the first international player to be inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame in 2003. ...

The GO Foundation

In September 2009 he launched the Goodes O'Loughlin Foundation, or GO Foundation, along with his cousin and co-chairman Adam Goodes and their friend James Gallichan, in Dareton, NSW, where it was involved in various community programmes for the local Aboriginal population. In 2014, it started focusing on education for

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

and established a board of directors. Founding partners include the Sydney Swans, Allens Linklaters,

QBE Insurance QBE Insurance Group Limited is an Australian multinational general insurance and reinsurance company headquartered in Sydney, Australia. QBE offers commercial, personal and specialty products and risk management products. The company employs aro ...

and KPMG Australia. After starting with a few

scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...

s to

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

s, by 2021 GO had expanded into 26 mostly public schools, as well as five universities.

Off-field controversy

In 2000, it was alleged that O'Loughlin had been present during the

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

of a woman in a park in

by two other AFL players, Adam Heuskes and Peter Burgoyne. O'Loughlin was said to have been "present before or during the incident, but not directly involved in it. O'Loughlin was neither charged nor questioned by police but Burgoyne and Heuskes were both charged with rape. The case, however, did not go to court as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Paul Rofe, said there was "no reasonable prospect of conviction on any criminal charge" due to a lack of witnesses. Despite this, the three players made a $200,000 cash payment to the alleged victim.O'Loughlin linked to payment – National
''The Age''. (19 March 2004). Retrieved 3 June 2012. The incident came to public light when it was examined on the

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 ...

investigative program ''

Four Corners Four Corners is a region of the Southwestern United States consisting of the southwestern corner of Colorado, southeastern corner of Utah, northeastern corner of Arizona, and northwestern corner of New Mexico. Most of the Four Corners regio ...

'' in 2004.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oloughlin, Michael 1977 births Living people All-Australians (AFL) Sydney Swans players Sydney Swans premiership players Bob Skilton Medal winners South Australian State of Origin players Central District Football Club players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football Australian rules footballers from Adelaide Australia international rules football team coaches Australian people of English descent Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of Czech-Jewish descent Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Australia international rules football team players South Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees VFL/AFL premiership players