Barry Hall
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Barry Hall (born February 8, 1977) is a forward with the Sydney Swans Australian rules football club and a prolific goalkicker. He is nicknamed "Bustling Barry Hall" (also "Bazza", "Big Bad Barry" or various combinations of these) by media and football fans. The nickname goes back to the mid-late 1990s when it is believed Sandy Roberts, part of the Seven Network's AFL coverage, coined the term. As a young man Hall was a prominent junior boxer but decided to focus on a career in Australian rules football. Hall is instantly recognisable with his large stature, balding blond head and distinctive tattoo on his right shoulder. The tall full-forward made his AFL debut for St Kilda in 1996. He played for the Saints until 2001, kicking 144 goals in 88 games and being the club's leading goalkicker in the 1999 and 2001 seasons. He joined the Swans for the 2002 season and has prospered, leading the club's goalscoring in every season since and being named club best and fairest in 2004. He has said that he benefited from the move to Sydney, in particular the relative anonymity he enjoyed when first arriving. Hall was named in the All-Australian Team in 2004, 2005 and 2006. Hall earned a reputation as a controversial player, with several appearances at the tribunal resulting in four suspensions for a total of 10 matches. He has given away almost twice as many free kicks as he has been given over his career, and in 2003 Swans coach Paul Roos questioned whether Hall was given all the free kicks he deserved. Umpires manager Jeff Gieschen then acknowledged that umpires may unintentionally be affected by the idea that Hall is big and strong enough to look after himself. After an incident in the 2005 Preliminary Final against St Kilda, Hall was reported for a level two striking and offered a one week suspension for a guilty plea. This suspension would have meant missing the next week's Grand Final. Hall successfully argued that it was a level one offence, reducing the penalty to a reprimand, and went on to captain the Swans to their first premiership in 72 years, defeating the West Coast Eagles in the Grand Final by 4 points. Recently, he has been the star for the Sydney AFL Promotion called "Barry Hall Hall", in an attempt to educate the Sydneysiders in the idiosyncracies of AFL Culture. [edit] References[edit] Related Articles[edit] Recent Barry Hall ArmchairGM Stories
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