Jeff Hopgood was an Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played with North Melbourne

North Melbourne Football Club

The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed The Kangaroos, is the fourth oldest Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League and is one of the oldest sporting clubs in Australia and the world...

 in the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (VFL).

Hopgood spent six season at North Melbourne without ever managing to cement his spot, although he did manage 16 games in 1972. After leaving North Melbourne, Hopgood played at Coburg and was a ruckman in their 1974 VFA

Victorian Football League

The Victorian Football League which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association , taking its new name as from the 1996 season, is the premier Australian rules football league in Victoria The Victorian Football League (VFL) which evolved from the former Victorian Football Association...

 premiership side.

He later became influential in the Cairns sporting scene, serving as the president of AFL Cairns

AFL Cairns

The Australian Football League Cairns is a semi-professional Australian rules football league that includes clubs from the Cairns region in Queensland, Australia...

 and the inaugural chairman of the Cairns Taipans

Cairns Taipans

The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Australasian National Basketball League. The club is based in the northern Queensland city of Cairns. The Taipans, named after a species of venomous snake native to Australia, entered the NBL in the 1999/2000 season...

 basketball team, of which he was a co-founder.

Affectionately known as Hoppy, he was killed in November 2006 when his four-wheel drive crashed into a tree near the Gold Coast

Gold Coast, Queensland

Gold Coast is a coastal city of Australia located in South East Queensland, 94km south of the state capital Brisbane. With a population approximately 540,000 in 2010, it is the second most populous city in the state, the sixth most populous city in the country, and also the most populous...

.