: ''For information about the former St Kilda player named Peter Bell, see Peter R. Bell.'' Peter Francis Bell (born 1 March 1976) 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 the

Fremantle Football Club The Fremantle Football Club, nicknamed the Dockers or colloquially Freo, is a professional Australian rules football club competing in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The team was founded in 1994 to represen ...

and the

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos or colloquially the Roos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AF ...

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 ...

. He played as a

rover Rover may refer to: People Name * Constance Rover (1910–2005), English historian * Jolanda de Rover (born 1963), Dutch swimmer * Rover Thomas (c. 1920–1998), Indigenous Australian artist Stage name * Rover (musician), French singer-songw ...

(or follower). A former captain of the

, Bell was twice named as a member of the

All-Australian Team 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 ...

. He was an acclaimed ball-winner and had more than 30 possessions in a game on 39 occasions in his career. Bell has played more games and the third-most goals of any AFL player born outside of Australia.

Early life

Bell was born in

Jeju Island Jeju Island (Jeju language, Jeju/) is South Korea's largest island, covering an area of , which is 1.83% of the total area of the country. Alongside outlying islands, it is part of Jeju Province and makes up the majority of the province. The i ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, the son of a Korean mother, Kyung Ae and a Native American father of

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

descent.Peter Bell and the singular quest of Kyung Ae
from ABC Broadcast 5 August 2019 In 1979, he was adopted by an Australian couple who were in South Korea as

Christian mission A Christian mission is an organized effort to carry on evangelism, in the name of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries. Sometimes individuals are sent and a ...

aries. Bell spent his formative years in Kojonup, Western Australia, and began playing junior football at the age of 10 with Kojonup Cougars Junior Football Club.Bulldogs champion Peter Bell enters Australian Football Hall of Fame
4 June 2015 As well as playing, he was a regular scoreboard attendant and also boundary umpired. At the age of 13, he broke his leg which had complications and required additional resetting.Peter Bell Class of 1993
/ref> He was educated at

Aquinas College, Perth Aquinas College, informally known as Aquinas or AC, is an Independent school, independent Roman Catholicism in Australia, Roman Catholic Single-sex education, single-sex Primary school, primary and Secondary school, secondary Day school, day a ...

, where he was a boarder. At Aquinas, he continued playing junior football from age 15 where he excelled, earning selection in the WA junior representative team. In 1994, he joined the

South Fremantle Football Club South Fremantle Football Club is an Australian rules football club based in Fremantle, Western Australia. The club plays in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL) and the WAFL Women's (WAFLW), commonly going by the nickname the ''Bulldogs ...

and had an immediate impact being named best and fairest. Despite being considered short by AFL standards at the time he was shortly after selected in the inaugural Fremantle Dockers AFL club list drawn from the local clubs. Bell became one of the first two players signed by the Fremantle Dockers, which made its debut in the

the following year.

AFL career

Fremantle (1995)

Despite kicking two goals with his first two kicks in AFL football, Bell failed to make an impression on Dockers' coach Gerard Neesham, who regarded him as too slow a runner to be a successful AFL player. Bell was selected for only two games in 1995.

North Melbourne (1996–2000)

He was delisted at the end of that season, worked hard to improve his leg speed, and was picked up in the 1996 Pre-season draft, by

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 ...

, where he achieved regular selection and acclaim for his courageous, energetic and skilled performances under coach Denis Pagan. Bell was a premiership player with the Kangaroos in 1996 and 1999, and was named an

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 ...

on the bench in 1999. He scored four goals and had 31 possessions in the 1999 Grand Final to be one of the Roos best on the day. In 2000, he won the North Melbourne best and fairest award, the

Syd Barker Medal The Syd Barker Medal is awarded to the North Melbourne Football Club player who has been judged the best and fairest of the footy season. The award has been given out continuously since 1937. Before then it was known as the Syd Barker Memorial Tr ...

Fremantle (2001–2008)

At the end of 2000, Fremantle sought his return and Bell was traded back to his original club. As it happened, 2001 was a disastrous season for the Dockers, winning the "wooden spoon" and culminating in the dismissal of coach

Damian Drum Damian Kevin Drum (born 28 July 1960) is an Australian politician who has represented Murray and Nicholls in the Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliamen ...

. Bell won the Doig Medal for the Dockers'

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 ...

player that year, and was one of the very few shining lights in a season where the Dockers recorded just two victories. These two wins were in part due to outstanding performances from Bell, who gathered thirty-eight possessions and two goals against Hawthorn in round 18, and forty-four disposals and three goals against

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 ...

in round 22. The following year he was appointed captain and in 2003 the club made the finals for the first time. Bell was once again an All-Australian, this time as a follower. He continued his good form into 2004, winning another Doig Medal. However, Fremantle's team performances were not as good, and in both 2004 and 2005 they narrowly missed making the finals. 2006 started poorly, but Bell was a leading player in Freo's record setting 9-game winning streak to finish in the top four for the first time, and also a member of the team that beat

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 ...

in the second semi final to record Fremantle's first ever finals game win. Despite offering to hand over the captaincy to

Matthew Pavlich Matthew Lee Pavlich (born 31 December 1981) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Fremantle Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A versatile player, Pavlich is widely regarded as one of the p ...

in 2003, he remained captain for five seasons until the end of the 2006 season. At

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, ...

, enthusiastic supporters rang a bell (a play on his surname) whenever Bell got a possession. Bell has the exact bell which was rung so enthusiastically on his sideboard in his current home. He was president of the

AFL Players Association The AFL Players Association (AFLPA, also simply known as AFL Players) is the representative body for all current and past professional Australian Football League (AFL) and AFL Women's (AFLW) players. The AFLPA promotes and protects its member ...

from 2003 until the beginning of 2007. Fremantle running through banner

Bell announced his immediate retirement on 7 July 2008, having played his last game in the club's Round 14 loss to

Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essendon Airport *Essendon Football Club, in the Australian Football League *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington United Kin ...

. He played 286 games with North Melbourne and Fremantle.

Playing statistics

, - 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 ...

, , 32 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0 , , 5 , , 4 , , 9 , , 0 , , 1 , , 1.0 , , 0.0 , , 2.5 , , 2.0 , , 4.5 , , 0.0 , , 0.5 , - ! 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 ...

, , 26 , , 23 , , 23 , , 11 , , 187 , , 128 , , 315 , , 36 , , 21 , , 1.0 , , 0.5 , , 8.1 , , 5.6 , , 13.7 , , 1.6 , , 0.9 , - style="background:#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 ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 24 , , 16 , , 281 , , 182 , , 463 , , 69 , , 36 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 11.2 , , 7.3 , , 18.5 , , 2.8 , , 1.4 , - ! 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 ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 17 , , 14 , , 327 , , 215 , , 542 , , 67 , , 43 , , 0.7 , , 0.6 , , 13.1 , , 8.6 , , 21.7 , , 2.7 , , 1.7 , - style="background:#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 ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 32 , , 20 , , 427 , , 195 , , 622 , , 96 , , 48 , , 1.3 , , 0.8 , , 17.1 , , 7.8 , , 24.9 , , 3.8 , , 1.9 , - ! 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 ...

, , 26 , , 25 , , 24 , , 19 , , 387 , , 262 , , 649 , , 107 , , 75 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , , 15.5 , , 10.5 , , 26.0 , , 4.3 , , 3.0 , - style="background:#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 ...

, , 32 , , 19 , , 14 , , 10 , , 313 , , 214 , , 527 , , 83 , , 52 , , 0.7 , , 0.5 , , 16.5 , , 11.3 , , 27.7 , , 4.4 , , 2.7 , - ! 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 ...

, , 32 , , 22 , , 11 , , 10 , , 308 , , 264 , , 572 , , 77 , , 47 , , 0.5 , , 0.5 , , 14.0 , , 12.0 , , 26.0 , , 3.5 , , 2.1 , - 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 ...

, , 32 , , 23 , , 20 , , 9 , , 354 , , 242 , , 596 , , 111 , , 72 , , 0.9 , , 0.4 , , 15.4 , , 10.5 , , 25.9 , , 4.8 , , 3.1 , - ! 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 ...

, , 32 , , 21 , , 22 , , 12 , , 279 , , 215 , , 494 , , 81 , , 56 , , 1.0 , , 0.6 , , 13.3 , , 10.2 , , 23.5 , , 3.9 , , 2.7 , - 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 ...

, , 32 , , 18 , , 12 , , 8 , , 251 , , 171 , , 422 , , 91 , , 69 , , 0.7 , , 0.4 , , 13.9 , , 9.5 , , 23.4 , , 5.1 , , 3.8 , - ! 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 ...

, , 32 , , 23 , , 14 , , 12 , , 306 , , 236 , , 542 , , 116 , , 76 , , 0.6 , , 0.5 , , 13.3 , , 10.3 , , 23.6 , , 5.0 , , 3.3 , - 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 ...

, , 32 , , 22 , , 28 , , 12 , , 266 , , 218 , , 484 , , 102 , , 63 , , 1.3 , , 0.5 , , 12.1 , , 9.9 , , 22.0 , , 4.6 , , 2.9 , - ! 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 ...

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

, 32 , , 13 , , 7 , , 4 , , 127 , , 157 , , 284 , , 54 , , 41 , , 0.5 , , 0.3 , , 9.8 , , 12.1 , , 21.8 , , 4.2 , , 3.2 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 286 ! 250 ! 157 ! 3818 ! 2703 ! 6521 ! 1090 ! 700 ! 0.9 ! 0.5 ! 13.3 ! 9.5 ! 22.8 ! 3.8 ! 2.4

Post-player career

Bell was educated at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

, where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws. In 2013, Bell joined radio broadcaster 6PR as host of the afternoon slot, alongside his match-day special comments for AFL games on the station. In 2016, he moved to ABC Radio Perth to host the weekday breakfast program. He also did some AFL coverage for the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

. In September 2018, Bell was appointed general manager of the Fremantle Football Club, and he resigned from his radio and television roles.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bell, Peter 1976 births Living people Sportspeople from Jeju Province VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Australian rules footballers from Western Australia Australian people of American descent Australian people of Korean descent Navajo sportspeople Fremantle Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club premiership players South Fremantle Football Club players South Korean people of American descent South Korean emigrants to Australia Western Australian State of Origin players All-Australians (AFL) Doig Medal winners Syd Barker Medal winners People educated at Aquinas College, Perth University of Western Australia alumni Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees West Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Fremantle Football Club captains Australian radio presenters Australia international rules football team players Australian adoptees Fremantle Football Club administrators VFL/AFL premiership players