Shane Crawford

Shane Barry Crawford (born 9 September 1974) is a former Australian rules footballer, having played for the Hawthorn Football Club in the Australian Football League. He is currently an Australian television personality who appears regularly on the AFL Footy Show.

AFL career

Crawford spent his childhood in Finley, New South Wales and played his junior football with the Finley Football Club.^[2] He attended boarding school at Assumption College in Kilmore, Victoria and was selected by Hawthorn with the 13th pick in the 1991 AFL Draft. He made his debut in 1993.^[3]

Crawford played 305 career AFL games. He is also a four-time All-Australian player and played in three International Rules series' for Australia. He became Captain of Hawthorn in 1999 and that season also won the AFL's top individual honours, the Brownlow Medal and the Leigh Matthews Trophy. He has won four Hawthorn Best & Fairest Awards (1998, 1999, 2002, 2003) and came second in the Brownlow in 2003, losing to the winners by one vote. He was also a member of Hawthorn's 2008 Premiership side.

Crawford stepped down from the Hawthorn Captaincy after the 2004 season, in which he broke his arm and the Hawks finished second last on the AFL ladder. He regained some form in the 2005 season and was again one of the league's leading possession winners.

He played his 300th game for Hawthorn against Brisbane in Round 19 in 2008 in Launceston when, after a slow start, Hawthorn eventually defeated the Lions by 69 points.

On 27 September 2008, Crawford won his first Premiership in his 305th AFL match, aged 34. He played more AFL games before receiving his first Premiership Medal than any other player.

Crawford was offered another year with the Hawks,^[4] but he announced his retirement, wanting to go out on a high note. He ended his career after Hawthorn won the 2008 Grand Final, and is now remembered as one of the greatest midfielders in the modern era of AFL football.^[5]

In 2012 Crawford was inducted in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.^[6]

Media career

Crawford is currently a television presenter on Channel Nine, being part of two current shows. Crawford is a permanent panel member of The Footy Show and is a presenter on Postcards, a holiday and destination program which airs on Saturday evenings.^{[citation needed]} He was also a contestant on the first season of Channel 9's series The Celebrity Apprentice, where celebrities compete for charities of their choosing. Shane raised $49,311 for his charity the Breast Cancer Network Australia. He finished third overall behind dance guru Jason Coleman and comedian Julia Morris.

World records

In 2009 Crawford set five Guinness world records during broadcasts of The Footy Show.

• Having 157 live Golden Orb spiders on his body inside a large tank for 30 seconds.^[7]
• Kissing 96 people on the face in a minute.^[8]
• By putting on 180 pairs of underwear, surpassing the former world record of 150.^[9]
• Crawford and previous Stawell Gift winner Adrian Mott broke the world record for the 100m sprint while both inside a single pantomime horse costume.^[10]
• Cracked 90 eggs with his head in a minute.^[9]

Personal life

Crawford has a longtime girlfriend, Olivia Anderson and they have 4 sons – Charlie (born 2006), Benjamin (born 2008) and twins Jack and Harry (born 2011).

Crawford's interests outside football are diverse, including his passion for horse racing.^[11] In 2011 Crawford launched his children's wear range Kiniki onto the market.^[12]

Breast cancer fundraising

On 16 September 2010, Crawford completed a 780 km run from Rundle Mall in Adelaide to the Channel 9 studio in Melbourne to raise awareness for breast cancer. He took a total of 11 days to complete the run and as a welcome into Melbourne, ran the final leg into the Channel 9 Footy Show's studio where the panel and crowd awaited his arrival. Hundreds of 'pink ladies' who were affected in some way by breast cancer showed their appreciation and support by making way for Crawford as he ran into the studio. Crawford appeared humbled and initially struggled to come to terms with what he had achieved and the stories that he had heard along the journey from breast cancer sufferers and family/friends of those with breast cancer.

In 2013 he cycled from Melbourne to Perth in a fundraising event named "Tour de Crawf". In total he raised $1,328,249 for the Breast Cancer Network Australia

In popular culture

"I Rooted A Girl Who Rooted A Guy Who Rooted A Girl Who Rooted A Guy Who Rooted A Girl Who Rooted Shane Crawford" is a song by the satirical Melbourne band TISM, released in 2004 on The White Albun.

References

External links

• Shane Crawford's profile on the official website of the Hawthorn Football Club
• Shane Crawford's statistics from AFL Tables

v t e Australian squad – 1999 International Rules Series Captain: Buckley Akermanis Allan Ashcroft Bell Burgoyne Burke Campbell Camporeale Cousins Crawford Croad Graham Hart Leppitsch McKay McRae Molloy O'Loughlin Richardson Silvagni Smith Waterhouse West Coach: Brereton

v t e Australian squad – 2002 International Rules Series Captain: Crawford Bickley Bradley Brown Bruce Clement Cornes Darcy Edwards Francou Johnson Judd Kellaway Kerr Lekkas Ling Milne Montgomery Murphy Neitz Pavlich Primus Scarlett Scott Simpson Tredrea Yze Coach: Lyon

v t e Australian squad – 2003 International Rules Series Barry Bell Bickley Bizzell Brown Burgoyne Carr Crouch Crawford Hall Harvey Hasleby Hayes Jakovich B. Johnson C. Johnson Kirk Murphy Pavlich Power Rawlings Scarlett Simpson Smith Wells Wirrpanda Coach: Lyon