Richard Champion was a former 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 in the Australian 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...

.

Originally from the Woodville Football Club

Woodville Football Club

Woodville Football Club was an Australian rules football club that competed in the South Australian National Football League from 1964 to 1990, when it merged with the West Torrens Football Club to form the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles....

 in South Australia

South Australia

South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country. It covers some of the most arid parts of the continent; with a total land area of , it is the fourth largest of Australia's six states and two territories.South Australia shares borders with all of the mainland...

, Champion was a high draft pick by the Brisbane Bears

Brisbane Bears

The Brisbane Football Club, formerly nicknamed The Bears was an Australian rules football club and the first Queensland-based club in the Victorian Football League . The club played its first match in 1987, but struggled on and off the field until it made the finals for the first time in 1995...

, considered an outstanding talent and high profile player in the SANFL over 4 years. While he was drafted to the Bears in 1988 he did not move to Brisbane until 1991 when he made his AFL debut.

"Champs", a solidly built and tough backman, wore the number 1 guernsey.

Champion was a Bears stalwart through some of the club's darkest years, and a poster player in an era when the club had so few.

When the club moved from Carrara

Carrara

Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....

 on 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...

, growing their fanbase, Champion became a cult figure. He was endeared by Bears fans, was Best Clubman several times and became a local celebrity with his Jimmy Barnes

Jimmy Barnes

James Dixon Swan , better known as Jimmy Barnes, is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer-songwriter. His father Jim Swan was a prizefighter and his older brother John Swan is also a rock singer. It was actually John who had encouraged and taught Jim how to sing as he wasn't really interested at...

 impressions. He was a media figure for the club. He even made an appearance with John Platten

John Platten

John Patrick "The Rat" Platten is a former Australian rules footballer. With his unruly tangle of curls he was a distinctive figure on the field with tremendous tenacity and the ability to accumulate possessions week after week.-Career:Platten began his career with the Central District Bulldogs...

 to represent the AFL

Australian Football League

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

 on the television show Gladiators.

When it became apparent that the Bears would make the finals for the first time in 1995, Champion openly wept, a sign of his endurance as a player through tough times.

Champion retired at the end of the 2000 season after a 14 year football career (10 of which were in the AFL).

Post football career

He is currently a television presenter and radio commentator in Brisbane and a local celebrity.

In 2006, he made an appearance in the television show It Takes Two