Troy Broadbridge (5 October 1980 – 26 December 2004) was an Australian rules footballer with the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL).

AFL career

Melbourne career (2001–2004)

Broadbridge began his career as a defender with

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 governing body for the sport. Originally formed as th ...

(SANFL) club

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

, the team his father Wayne played for, and was drafted by the Melbourne Football Club at the beginning of the

2001 AFL season The 2001 AFL season was the 105th 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 six ...

. He won the club's Most Improved Player award in 2001, and became a regular in the side, playing a total of 40 games over his three seasons. Broadbridge's first and last AFL games were both against – he made his debut in Round 8, 2001, in the teams' first meeting since the 2000 Grand Final, while his last league game was also against Essendon, in the 2004 elimination final. On both occasions, Melbourne lost. His final game of football at any level was in the 2004 premiership team of Melbourne's , Sandringham.

Marriage and death

Broadbridge married Trisha Silvers on 18 December 2004. On 26 December, while spending their honeymoon in the

Phi Phi Islands The Phi Phi Islands ( th, หมู่เกาะพีพี, , ) are an island group in Thailand between the large island of Phuket and the Straits of Malacca coast of Thailand. The islands are administratively part of Krabi Province. Ko Ph ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

, he drowned after being swept out to sea by the

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

that followed the

Indian Ocean earthquake An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sum ...

, but Silvers survived. His father located his body in a Thai morgue on 3 January 2005.

Legacy

Trisha wrote a book about the events, ''Beyond The Wave'', and was named as the 2006 Young

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territ ...

for her volunteer work for various charities, including building a school on Phi Phi named in Troy Broadbridge's honour. In Melbourne's first match of the 2005 season, played against Essendon, the Demons all wore black armbands with number 20 sported on them in memory of Broadbridge. The Demons won that game and dedicated the win to him and his widow, Trisha. Broadbridge's number 20 guernsey was retired for the following two seasons (2005–2006), and it was revived in 2007 by new player Colin Garland. Since 2007, the Troy Broadbridge Memorial Trophy has been awarded to any Melbourne-listed player that accumulates the most votes for the club's VFL affiliate. Melbourne captain

Max Gawn Max Gawn (born 30 December 1991) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Melbourne Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). A ruckman, 208 cm tall and weighing 108 kg, Gawn is capable of contributing in b ...

paid tribute to Broadbridge, among other deceased club identities, in a post-match interview upon the club winning the

2021 AFL Grand Final The 2021 AFL Grand Final was an Australian rules football match contested between and the at Optus Stadium in Perth, Western Australia, on Saturday 25 September 2021. It was the 126th annual grand final of the Australian Football League (AF ...

References

External links

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DemonWiki profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Broadbridge, Troy 1980 births 2004 deaths Australian rules footballers from South Australia Melbourne Football Club players Port Adelaide Magpies players Sandringham Football Club players Place of birth missing Victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami Natural disaster deaths in Thailand Deaths by drowning in Australia