Stephen James Allender (born 24 July 1960) 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

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 ...

and Hawthorn in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

(VFL) during the 1980s. Allender attracted the attention of VFL recruiters with his strong performance for

Port Melbourne Port Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of the Melbourne central business district, located within the Cities of City of Melbourne, Melbourne and City of Port Phillip, Port Phillip Local government ...

in 1980, when he won the

J. J. Liston Trophy The J. J. Liston Trophy is awarded annually to the best and fairest senior player in the Victorian Football League (VFL), which was formerly known as the Victorian Football Association (VFA). It is named after J. J. Liston, J.J. Liston, a busine ...

and played in a premiership team. He was signed by at the start of 1981, but there was a dispute: although he lived in South Melbourne's

zone Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

, he was residentially tied to and would remain as such until November 1983, because he had lived in Lalor until February 1979. Carlton ended up granting him a clearance to South Melbourne, but South Melbourne was fined $20,000 by the VFL for poaching. A ruckman or key forward, Allender spent a season at South Melbourne before making the move with the club to Sydney. He joined Hawthorn in 1984 but couldn't establish a place in their strong side, suffering a fractured vertebra. He returned to Port Melbourne, and played there until the end of 1988. Allender is the nephew of Port Melbourne and South Melbourne legend Peter Bedford.

References

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

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Allender, Stephen 1960 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Melbourne Sydney Swans players Hawthorn Football Club players Port Melbourne Football Club players J. J. Liston Trophy winners Lalor Football Club players