Raphael Clarke (born 24 September 1985) is 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 who played for the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

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) from

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 ...

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 ...

. His brother

Xavier Clarke Xavier Clarke (born 28 September 1983) is a former Australian rules football player who played for St Kilda and Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Clarke has Indigenous Australian heritage and his ancestry can ...

also played for St Kilda.

AFL career

Clarke was recruited from

Northern Territory Football League The Northern Territory Football League (NTFL) is an Australian rules football competition, operating in Greater Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin and the Northern Territory, formerly run by the Northern Territory Football League Incorporated a ...

(NTFL) club St Mary's with pick Number Eight in the

2003 AFL Draft The 2003 AFL draft was the 2003 instance of the AFL draft, the annual draft (sports), draft of talented players by Australian rules football teams that participate in the main competition of that sport, the Australian Football League. The 2003 d ...

. He made his debut in Round 17, 2004 against

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 ...

and was an

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 in

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 ...

2008 season

Clarke had a strong start to the year in his fifth season at St Kilda, playing in their

2008 NAB Cup The 2008 NAB Cup was the Australian Football League pre-season competition played in its entirety before the Australian Football League's 2008 season began. It culminated with the Grand Final played on 8 March 2008 at AAMI Stadium in which St ...

winning side. After playing just five of the first 20 rounds in 2008 because of health and personal issues, Clarke finished the year in outstanding fashion, starring at half-back in the semi-final win against Collingwood and being one of the Saints' few good players in the preliminary final loss to Hawthorn. Clarke played in 12 of 22 matches in the

2009 AFL season The 2009 AFL season was the 113th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition in Australia, which was known as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season featured sixt ...

home and away rounds in which St Kilda qualified in first position for the finals, winning the club's third minor premiership. St Kilda qualified for the

2009 AFL Grand Final The 2009 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football game contested between the St Kilda Football Club and the Geelong Football Club at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on 26 September 2009. It was the 113th annual AFL Grand Final, grand final ...

after qualifying and preliminary finals wins. Clarke played in the grand final in which St Kilda were defeated by 12 points. Clarke was delisted by St Kilda at the conclusion of the 2012 season and played with St Albans Football Club in the

Geelong Football League The Geelong Football Netball League is an Australian rules football and netball league in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is widely regarded as the highest-standard Australian rules football league in regional Victoria, with sever ...

in 2013 before coaching the Flying Boomerangs national Indigenous youth team in their tour of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Raphael 1985 births Living people St Kilda Football Club players St Mary's Football Club (NTFL) players Indigenous Australian players of Australian rules football 21st-century Indigenous Australian people Casey Demons players Sandringham Football Club players Northern Territory Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Darwin, Northern Territory Larrakia people 21st-century Australian sportsmen