Maurice Rioli

Maurice Rioli
Personal information
Date of birth	(1957-09-01)1 September 1957
Place of birth	Melville Island, Northern Territory
Date of death	25 December 2010(2010-12-25) (aged 53)
Place of death	Darwin, Northern Territory
Original team(s)	St Mary's (NTFL)
Height / weight	176 cm (5 ft 9 in) / 85 kg (13 st 5 lb)
Playing career¹
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1975–81, 1988–90	South Fremantle	168 (133)
1982–87	Richmond	118 0(80)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
1978–88	Western Australia	14 (8)
1988	Northern Territory	3 (?)
Coaching career³
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1994	Indigenous All-Stars	(1–0–0)
¹ Playing statistics correct to the end of 1990. ³ Coaching statistics correct as of 1994.
Career highlights
Club WAFL premiership: 1980 2x Richmond best and fairest: 1982-1983 Norm Smith Medal: 1982 2x Simpson Medal (for Grand Final): 1980-1981 Representative National Football Carnival Championship (Div 1): 1979 National Football Carnival Championship (Div 2): 1988 3x All-Australian team: 1983, 1986, 1988 Simpson Medal: 1983 Western Australia captain: 1987 Northern Territory captain: 1988
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

Club

Representative

Maurice Joseph Rioli (1 September 1957 – 25 December 2010) was an Australian rules footballer who represented St Mary's Football Club in the Northern Territory Football League (NTFL), South Fremantle in the West Australian Football League (WAFL) and Richmond in the Victorian Football League.

Acknowledged as one of the greatest players of his era, Rioli was one of the first Indigenous Australian footballers to have a significant impact on Victorian football, and was named in the centre for the Indigenous Team of the Century. A highly skilled and solidly built centreman with exquisite ball-handling skills and lightning reflexes, Rioli was a renowned performer on the big stage.

After retiring from football, Rioli became a politician in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, and then worked in community services on the Tiwi Islands.

Born into a famous footballing family on Melville Island off the coast of the Northern Territory, the young Rioli learnt the game at the Garden Point Orphanage on the island. He was educated at St John's College, Darwin. He joined St Mary's in the Darwin competition for the 1974–75 season; football in the top end is played during the summer months, or 'wet season'. Richard Woodgate a scout from the South Fremantle club in Perth spotted the eighteen-year-old and lured him to Western Australia to join his brother for the coming season. At this stage in his sporting life, Rioli was also an excellent amateur boxer, who some thought good enough to go to represent Australia at the Olympics. He later won state amateur titles at light middleweight and welterweight.

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