Michael Wayne Parsons (3 October 1960 – 24 April 2009) 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 and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player who played for 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 ...

in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL) and

North Adelaide North Adelaide is a predominantly residential precinct (Australia), precinct and suburb of the City of Adelaide in South Australia, situated north of the River Torrens and within the Adelaide Park Lands. Laid out in a grid plan in three section ...

in the

South Australian National Football League 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. ...

(SANFL) as well as playing for

Launceston Casino City Launceston Casino City is a defunct Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). Formed in 1980, the club was based in Launceston, Tasmania. It lasted only three seasons before folding, but wo ...

and the

West Adelaide Bearcats West Adelaide Bearcats is a NBL1 Central club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of the overarching West Adelaide Basketball Club (WABC), the major administrative basketball ...

in the National Basketball League (NBL). Parsons grew up in Legana, Tasmania where he first played football as a junior with Launceston. He played under ex- St.Kilda defender Roy Apted who coached the young Blues to the 1976 Under 16 premiership in the Northern Tasmanian Junior Football Association (NTJFA).

Basketball

Nicknamed "Bristles" and eventually standing an imposing 6'8" (203 cm) tall, Parsons was also initially a talented basketball player, winning a basketball scholarship to the

University of Utah The University of Utah (the U, U of U, or simply Utah) is a public university, public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. It was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret (Book of Mormon), Deseret by the General A ...

in the late 1970s. Upon returning to Australia in 1980, Parsons was recruited to play for the Launceston Casino City in the fledgeling National Basketball League (

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

was only the NBL's 2nd ever season), most notably he played at Launceston in the

1981 NBL Season The 1981 NBL season was the third season of the National Basketball League (NBL). Regular season The regular season took place over 18 rounds between 14 February 1981 and 21 June 1981. Each team played 22 games, against every opponent twice. ...

when they were the NBL Champions after defeating the

Nunawading Spectres Nunawading Spectres is a NBL1 South club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is a division of Melbourne East Basketball Association (MEBA), the major administrative basketball ...

75–54 in the Grand Final at the

Apollo Stadium Apollo Stadium (officially called the Apollo Entertainment Centre) was a multi-purpose indoor arena located at 41 Kingston Avenue, Richmond, South Australia, just 5 minutes from the Adelaide city centre. The stadium had an original seating capa ...

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 ...

with Parsons scoring the final point of the game with a free throw. Parsons later moved to Adelaide to continue his studies, where he played for the

in the NBL, though he ultimately missed playing in the Bearcats

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Grand Final win over the

Geelong Supercats Geelong United is a NBL1 South club based in Geelong, Geelong, Victoria. Previously known as the Geelong Supercats, the club fields teams in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is affiliated with Geelong United Basketball and plays ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

(

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

). Michael Parsons played 85 games in the NBL for Launceston (36) and West Adelaide (49), scoring 8.1 points per game and grabbing 4.7 rebounds per game.

Australian Rules Football

While in Adelaide, Parsons was approached by North Adelaide Football Club coach Michael Nunan about the possibility of returning to play Aussie Rules footy. He joined the Roosters in

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

as a ruckman/forward and is best remembered for his

Jack Oatey Medal The Jack Oatey Medal is awarded to the best player during the SANFL Grand Final. It has been awarded since 1981. In 2018, Mitch Grigg of Norwood became the first player to win the Jack Oatey Medal on a losing team, after his team were defeated ...

winning performance in North Adelaide's 1987 SANFL Grand Final win over Glenelg (who had actually beaten Parsons and the Roosters in the

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

). He was then recruited to Sydney with the tenth pick in the

1987 VFL draft The 1987 VFL draft was the second draft to provide recruitment opportunities to clubs participating in Australian rules football's elite Victorian Football League. Held after the end of the 1987 season, it consisted only of the national draft i ...

but struggled to make an impact in his three years, although he gathered three

Brownlow Medal The Charles Brownlow Trophy, better known as the Brownlow Medal (and informally as Charlie), is awarded to the best and fairest player in the Australian Football League (AFL) during the home-and-away season, as determined by votes cast by the f ...

votes for his 23 disposal effort in a match 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 ...

midway through his first season. Parsons returned to North Adelaide in

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 ...

and finished the year as a member of another premiership winning team as the Roosters defeated West Adelaide by 75 points in a highly spiteful

Grand Final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

where there were numerous all-in brawls. Michael Parsons retired from playing football at the end of the

1992 SANFL season The 1992 SANFL season was the 113rd season of the highest level Australian rules football Competition in South Australia. Ladder Finals Grand Final References SANFL The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ...

having played 158 games for North Adelaide, kicking 196 goals and winning 2 SANFL premierships. He also played 25 games and kicked 14 goals for the Sydney Swans in the then VFL from 1988–1990

Post Playing

Following his playing career, Parson's joined

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

in Adelaide as a commentator for their

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. ...

telecasts in the mid-late 1990s, mostly working as the

Boundary rider Boundary rider is a long-established (1864) Australasian term for a cattle or sheep station employee whose duties entail a regular tour (by horse, camel or motor vehicle) of the outer perimeter (boundary) of the property, checking condition of f ...

during 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 ...

's Match of the Day telecasts. In 2008, Parsons suffered a stroke and was revealed to be suffering from a brain tumour. He died in hospital on 24 April 2009.North Adelaide Football Club website

References

Sources

*Holmesby, Russell and Main, Jim. ''The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers'' (7th edition). Melbourne: Bas Publishing (2007)

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Parsons, Michael 1960 births 2009 deaths Australian men's basketball players Australian rules footballers from South Australia Basketball players from South Australia Deaths from brain cancer in Australia Deaths from cancer in New South Wales North Adelaide Football Club players Sydney Swans players Sportsmen from South Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen