Shannon McFerran
| Shannon McFerran | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Date of birth | 13 June 1979 | ||
| Height | 168 cm (5 ft 6 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Rover | ||
| Playing career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| St Albans Spurs | |||
| Representative team honours | |||
| Years | Team | Games (Goals) | |
| 1998 - 2011 | Victoria | ||
| International team honours | |||
| 2006 | Australia | ||
| Coaching career | |||
| Years | Club | Games (W–L–D) | |
| 7 |
St Albans Youth Girls St Kilda Sharks Collingwood AFLW (development coach) Carlton VFLW head coach Carlton AFLW Assistant coach | ||
| Career highlights | |||
|
Premierships 2004, 2012, 2016 (Deer Park) | |||
Shannon McFerran (born 13 June 1979[1]) is an Australian rules football player in the Victorian Women's Football League. She currently plays at St Kilda Sharks women's football team.
Playing career[edit]
McFerran began playing for a St Albans FC boys' team at the age of nine. She played at St Albans with the boys until 12 years of age as girls could not play with boys after age 12. She went into umpiring and umpired in the FDFL now WRFL umpiring the boundary before taking up the field. At 17 McFerran joined the Sunshine YCW Spurs Women's football team. Sunshine moved to St Albans in 2000. She became captain of the Spurs in 2005. McFerran was part of the 2004 and 2011 premierships at St Albans Spurs.[2]
In June 2007 Shannon was one of two Victorian Women's Football League representatives in the E. J. Whitten legends match where she played alongside former Australian Football League players such as Scott Cummings, Nick Holland, Mick Martyn and Nicky Winmar.[3]
In March 2009 she was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma, a tumour in the canal that connects the brain and ear. Despite losing hearing in her left ear, she played out the 2009 season. She was named All - Australian captain and was best on ground in the grand final at the Australian AFL championships, she also won the Debbie Lee medal for player of the championships.[2][4]
After surgery to remove the tumour in December 2009, she sat out the 2010 season. Returning after a season on the sidelines, McFerran played her 200th VWFL match for St Albans in May 2011.[2][5][6]
She has been named as best and fairest player (Helen Lambert medal) in the Victorian women's league five times and is a 10 time best and fairest club winner.[2]
She has represented Victoria 12 times, captained Victoria a number of times and was All Australian captain 2009 and 2011. She retired from playing at St Kilda Sharks and took on the role of head coach in 2015. In 2009, she featured in Women's Health magazine and was most recently named in the top 100 Sport women in Australia. Most recently Shannon was a development coach at Collingwood in the AFLW. She is now the head coach of Carltons VFLW team and assistant coach in Carltons AFLW team.
International rules football[edit]
McFerran was a member of the Australia women's international rules football team that played against Ireland in the 2006 Ladies' International Rules Series. [7][8][9]
References[edit]
- ^ "National Women's Football Championship" (PDF). Football Budget. MediaTonic. 30 May 2009. p. 22. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ a b c d "Shannon McFerran to play game 200 this Saturday". Victorian Women's Football League. 27 May 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ "Up There Mcferran! State's Top Female AFL Player Takes a Speccy". Australian Teacher Magazine. March 2008. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ Critchley, Cheryl (20 April 2010). "Shannon McFerran played last season of football with a brain tumour". Herald Sun. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ Hanlon, Peter (9 March 2011). "Top woman footballer inspires on and off the field". The Age. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ "Back from brink- Back in the game". Albion Star. Star News Group. 1 March 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2012.
- ^ "Reliving the one and only Women's International Rules series 10 years on". girlsplayfooty.com. 15 November 2016. Archived from the original on 16 March 2017. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
- ^ "Brave Aussie ladies like ewes to the slaughter in Ireland". www.worldfootynews.com. 14 November 2006. Archived from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2013.
- ^ "Ireland v Australia – Ladies International Rules Series 2nd Test Photos". www.sportsfile.com. 4 November 2006. Retrieved 5 November 2019.