CARMAN, Phil

"Fabulous" Phil Carman was an immensely talented but controversial football nomad, who made Essendon his third VFL home.

Carman was originally from Edenhope and zoned to Collingwood but opted to head to Norwood in Adelaide because he didn’t like Melbourne life. Such was his ability that after 10 games at Norwood he was picked for the South Australian state team.

He arrived at Collingwood aged 24 in 1975 and was a sensation from the start. Carman won the Club's 1975 Best and Fairest award, played for Victoria and was third in the Brownlow Medal that year only 3 votes from the winner, but had missed nine games with a broken bone in his foot. In 1977 he was suspended in the semi-final against Hawthorn for striking, and missed both the Grand Final and replay. Most think his suspension cost Collingwood the flag.

He left Collingwood after 66 games for Melbourne but left there after only one year, arriving at Essendon in 1980.

He also played for South Australia in the State of Origin game in 1980.

Despite his superb skills and the excitement he brought to the game, Carman was at times undisciplined, and his career at Essendon was abruptly cut short when he was suspended for 20 weeks in 1980 after being found guilty of head-butting boundary umpire, Graeme Carberry, and striking an opponent. He was the first League player to be suspended on an umpire-related charge since 1945 and it was the harshest suspension since that year.

After leaving Essendon, Carman played 13 games with his fourth VFL club, North Melbourne, in 1982. He then played as captain-coach of Eastlake in the ACT in 1983 and 1984, where he was again suspended for manhandling an umpire. He was captain-coach of Kangaroo Flats in 1985 and later played with Benalla, Sandhurst, Kennington and North Ballarat. Continuing his football journey, he played with Sturt, Kyneton, back to Kangaroo Flat, East Gambier and finally Sebastopol.

He was awarded Player / Coach Life Membership of the SANFL in 2020.