Rodney 'Balls' Grinter (born 26 May 1965) is a former

Australian rules 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 ...

footballer who played for

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 VFL and AFL. Grinter is most remembered for an incident in Round 2 of the

1988 VFL season 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United States (National ...

when he punched Footscray defender

Terry Wallace Terry Wallace (born 13 December 1958) is a former professional Australian rules football player and coach. As a player, his career spanned three VFL/AFL clubs; most notably Hawthorn where he played in three premierships. After one season with ...

in the face, rendering Wallace unconscious. Both field umpires failed to report Grinter for the incident, but he received a six-week suspension for the incident after a VFL investigation. Later that season he appeared in Melbourne's losing Grand Final side against Hawthorn. He was also suspended for nine matches in 1990 following a number of incidents in a game against Richmond at the MCG. Grinter was part of the famous finish to the 1987 Preliminary Final when Hawthorn defeated Melbourne with a goal kicked after the final siren. Melbourne led by 4 points with only a few seconds remaining when Grinter conceded a free kick to

Gary Buckenara Gary William Buckenara (born 3 July 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and the Subiaco Football Club in the West Australian Football League (WAFL). Re ...

fifty metres from goal. As Grinter stood on the mark, his teammate

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. ...

ran between him and Buckenara and the siren sounded. This resulted in a 15-metre penalty and brought the Hawthorn forward within range. Buckenara kicked the decisive goal (his 5th for the match) and eliminated Melbourne. After playing most of his career in defence, Grinter was moved into the forward line in 1993 and rejuvenated his career kicking 21 goals. He managed only 9 games the following year, Grinter stayed on the list as a supplementary player in 1995 serving as reserves captain mentoring the younger players. He was later employed by the Demons as a match-day runner. Grinter was coach of

New Norfolk New Norfolk ( ; Aboriginal Tasmanians#Big River, Leenowwenne/palawa kani: ''Wulawali'') is a river bank, riverside town located on the Derwent River (Tasmania), River Derwent in southeastern Tasmania, Australia. Established in 1807, it is Tasm ...

in the Tasmanian Statewide Football League during the 1996, 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Statistics

: , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 11 , , 13 , , 9 , , 81 , , 39 , , 120 , , 31 , , 0 , , 1.2 , , 0.8 , , 7.4 , , 3.5 , , 10.9 , , 2.8 , , 0.0 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 11 , , 9 , , 10 , , 96 , , 45 , , 141 , , 40 , , 0 , , 0.8 , , 0.9 , , 8.7 , , 4.1 , , 12.8 , , 3.6 , , 0.0 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 18 , , 2 , , 3 , , 230 , , 48 , , 278 , , 67 , , 12 , , 0.1 , , 0.2 , , 12.8 , , 2.7 , , 15.4 , , 3.7 , , 0.7 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 19 , , 0 , , 4 , , 169 , , 72 , , 241 , , 48 , , 25 , , 0.0 , , 0.2 , , 8.9 , , 3.8 , , 12.7 , , 2.5 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 19 , , 4 , , 4 , , 160 , , 74 , , 234 , , 47 , , 22 , , 0.2 , , 0.2 , , 8.4 , , 3.9 , , 12.3 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 13 , , 5 , , 2 , , 103 , , 48 , , 151 , , 36 , , 17 , , 0.4 , , 0.2 , , 7.9 , , 3.7 , , 11.6 , , 2.8 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

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 ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 16 , , 1 , , 2 , , 129 , , 32 , , 161 , , 34 , , 20 , , 0.1 , , 0.1 , , 8.1 , , 2.0 , , 10.1 , , 2.1 , , 1.3 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 3 , , 0 , , 0 , , 29 , , 8 , , 37 , , 8 , , 4 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 9.7 , , 2.7 , , 12.3 , , 2.7 , , 1.3 , - style="background-color: #EAEAEA" ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 15 , , 21 , , 6 , , 96 , , 41 , , 137 , , 49 , , 8 , , 1.4 , , 0.4 , , 6.4 , , 2.7 , , 9.1 , , 3.3 , , 0.5 , - ! scope="row" style="text-align:center" ,

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, style="text-align:center;", , 14 , , 9 , , 2 , , 0 , , 44 , , 16 , , 60 , , 9 , , 7 , , 0.2 , , 0.0 , , 4.9 , , 1.8 , , 6.7 , , 1.0 , , 0.8 , - class="sortbottom" ! colspan=3, Career ! 134 ! 57 ! 40 ! 1137 ! 423 ! 1560 ! 369 ! 115 ! 0.4 ! 0.3 ! 8.5 ! 3.2 ! 11.6 ! 2.8 ! 1.0

References

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

External links

*
Demon Wiki profile

Rod Grinter Player Profile bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grinter, Rod 1965 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) Melbourne Football Club players New Norfolk Football Club players New Norfolk Football Club coaches