The National Sports Museum Ambassador program includes individuals who have made a significant impact in their chosen sport as a participant, coach, or administrator; or have made a considerable contribution in the reporting of sport through the media.
These individuals have achieved excellence in their chosen fields, contributing to our rich sporting history and providing us with many ‘moments that made us’. The role of a National Sports Museum Ambassador is to:
- Provide their endorsement for the National Sports Museum by lending their name to various promotional materials.
- Promote the National Sports Museum within their local and sporting communities, encouraging all Australians to visit.
- Endorse the National Sports Museum’s charter and embrace the museum’s values.
When available they may also make special appearances at museum activities and events. The list includes:
Ron Barassi AM
Australian football
Ron Barassi is the undisputed father of the modern game of Australian football. The inspirational ruck-rover wore his famous number 31 guernsey 254 times between 1953 and 1969, including 204 games and six premierships with Melbourne under legendary coach Norm Smith.
His decision to join Carlton in 1965 as captain-coach shocked the football world but launched a coaching dynasty - 515 VFL/AFL games at Carlton (147), North Melbourne (198), Melbourne (110) and Sydney (59) yielded four flags, two each at Carlton (1968 and 1970) and North Melbourne (1975 and 1977).
In 1996, he was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame as a Legend – our national game’s highest honour.
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James Hird
Australian football
James Hird is one of Australian football’s greatest exponents. During a 253-game career with the Essendon Football Club (1991-2007) wearing its famous number five guernsey, Hird’s skill, courage, poise, fairness and leadership saw him regarded as the ‘Rolls Royce’ of the AFL competition.
A joint winner of the Brownlow medal in 1996 and a two-time premiership player (1993 and 2000), Hird captained Essendon to the 2000 AFL premiership and was awarded the Norm Smith Medal.
A big occasion player, Hird made the annual Anzac Day match against Collingwood his own, winning the Anzac Day medal three times. He won his club’s best and fairest award (the Crichton medal) five times and All Australian selection on five occasions (captain in 2001).
Find out more about the James Hird hologram!
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Collingwood Football Club
Australian football
Collingwood has always been renowned for its love-hate relationship with the Australian football public, and it's a similar case for the Magpies and the MCG.
Although not officially the Pies' home ground until 1999, the 'G has been Collingwood's second home for many years. Since 1994, Collingwood has played all but a handful of home games on the MCG as it moved away from its traditional home, Victoria Park.
In a period of dominance never seen before or since, Collingwood won four premierships in succession from 1927-1930. Collingwood was to further that reputation with four more flags in the years between 1935 and 1958. Between 1960 and 1981, the Pies faltered eight times on Grand Final day at the MCG. All that was forgotten, however, in the drought-breaking premiership of 1990.
No matter how the team goes, the Magpies' legion of supporters will pack the stands and create the kind of atmosphere unique to Collingwood and the MCG.
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Liz Ellis AM
Netball
Liz is one of Australia's most successful netballers ever. She retired from the game in 2007 after 18 years.
Liz captained Australia and the Sydney Swifts until injury forced her to the sidelines temporarily in 2006.
She played in two gold medal winning Commonwealth Games teams, won two world championships and holds the record for most Test matches played for Australia.
She also led the Sydney Swifts to two National League championships.
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Shane Gould MBE
Swimming
At the age of 15, Shane Gould won five Olympic medals at the Munich Olympic Games in 1972 - three individual gold, one silver and one bronze. During her short career she was the holder of every freestyle world record from 100 metres to 1500 metres. In 1981, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to swimming.
She broke seven world records (her first at age 14) during her three year career. She was the first woman to break the 17-minute mark for the 1500 metres. Twelve months after the games, Gould decided to retire.
In 1972 she was named Australian of the Year and in 1974 voted the world's all-time best female freestyle swimmer. In 1994 she was awarded the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Order and was an Olympic Torchbearer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2000 Sydney Games.
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Catherine Freeman OAM
Athletics
Born in Mackay, Queensland in 1973, Catherine Freeman realised from an early age that she not only loved to run, but was good at it too.
Her family did not have a lot of money and, like many Aborigines, suffered discrimination. Catherine remembers winning one race at a primary school competition, but watching on as the white girls she had beaten received trophies.
Catherine went on to become the first Aboriginal to represent Australia at an Olympics (in Barcelona, 1992), won two gold medals at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, silver at Atlanta in 1996, and in the highlight of her career, gold at Sydney in 2000.
She was awarded Australian of the Year in 1998.
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Shane Warne
Cricket
A passionate and fiercely competitive cricketer, Shane Warne is regarded as one of the finest leg spin bowlers in the history of the game. In a 145-Test match career between 1992 and 2007, Warne took 708 wickets at 25.41.
He became the first player to reach the magical 700-mark when he bowled England batsman Andrew Strauss on Boxing Day 2006, his final appearance at the MCG.
In total, he took more than 1000 international wickets (in Tests and one-day internationals) and was the second bowler to reach this milestone after Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan. Such was his dominance, he was selected as one of the five Wisden Cricketers of the Century, the only specialist bowler selected.
Find out more about the Shane Warne hologram!
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Tony Charlton AM
Media
Considered one of the doyens of sports broadcasting in Australia, alongside the likes of Richie Benaud, Alan MacGilvray, Ron Casey and Bruce McAvaney, Tony Charlton AM began his career on Melbourne radio station 3AW in 1952.
He was one of the first voices heard on television in Australia in 1956, during stints on Channel Seven and the Nine Network. He covered the 1956 Melbourne Olympics before calling cricket (1960-68) and then VFL football until 1970.
His commanding presence at the microphone and meticulous research make him ideally suited to the role of master of ceremonies at functions, a role he continues to fulfil for a variety of institutions to this day.
In 1999, Tony was inducted into the MCG Media Hall of Fame.
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Wally Lewis AM
Rugby League
Walter James "Wally" Lewis is widely regarded as the greatest rugby league player of all time.
Nicknamed The King, Lewis represented Queensland in 31 State of Origin games from 1980 to 1991, and was captain for 30 of them.
He also represented Australia in 33 international matches from 1981 to 1991 and was national team captain from 1984 to 1989. Lewis has since been inducted into the Australian Rugby League Hall of Fame.
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Layne Beachley
Surfing
At the age of 16, Layne Beachley became a professional surfer. By the age of 20 she was ranked sixth in the world.
Beachley became the women's world champion in 1998, and won the title again in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2006. She was the first woman to gain seven world championships, six of them consecutive.
In 2004, she was given a wildcard entry into the Energy Australia Open, one of the rare occasions a woman has competed in a men's surfing event.
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Kevin Sheedy
Australian football
Kevin John Sheedy is an Australian rules football coach and former player.
He coached Essendon for 27 years, winning four premierships, after a 251-game playing career with Richmond as a hard-nosed defender.
He holds the AFL record for the most games combined as a player and coach and is currently the senior coach of the Greater Western Sydney Giants in the AFL.
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Melbourne Football Club
Australian Football
No Australian football club has had a richer history at the MCG than Melbourne.
As the pioneer club of Australian football, Melbourne's connection with the MCG dates back to the formation of the game in 1858.
Since the start of the VFL in 1897, Melbourne has played more games than any other club on the hallowed MCG turf and has won 11 VFL/AFL premierships.
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Alisa Camplin OAM
Freestyle aerial skiing
Alisa Camplin is an Australian aerial skier who won gold at the 2002 Winter Olympics.
At the 2006 Winter Olympics, Camplin finished third, a bronze medal. She is the first Australian skiier to win medals at consecutive Winter Olympics.
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Nick Green OAM
Rowing
Nick Green is a former Australian rowing champion and a key member of the famous Oarsome Foursome men’s coxless fours that won gold at successive Olympics – in 1992 (Barcelona) and 1996 (Atlanta).
He was one of the eight flag-bearers at the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
He was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1993.
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Greg Miles
Horse Racing
Greg Miles has enjoyed a highly successful career in the media, calling his 30th Melbourne Cup in 2010. He started race calling in the late-1970s and became number one caller for ABC in 1981 following the retirement of legendary caller Joe Brown.
He became the on-course caller at Caulfield and Sandown in 1988 and at Flemington in 1989.
Greg joined Sky Channel in 1998 after the ABC dropped race coverage, and Radio Sport 927 (now Radio Sport National) in 2005. He has called races in Dubai, Hong Kong, New Zealand.
Greg is the recipient of many sporting accolades including the Bert Wolfe media award for overall excellence in 1995, the Australian Sports Medal in 2000 and the Bill Collins Media Excellence award in 2006.
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Michael Rodd
Horse Racing
Michael Rodd has forged an impressive riding career in thoroughbred racing, the highlight being his win in the 2007 Melbourne Cup.
He has claimed 19 Australasian Group 1 wins, including an exhilarating win on Efficient in the 2006 Victoria Derby. When he rode the horse to victory again a year later in the 2007 Melbourne Cup, it became the first Derby winner since the legendary Phar Lap to come back a year later and claim the Melbourne Cup.
Michael’s other victories include the 2008 Cox Plate on Maldivian, and the 2009 VRC Oaks on Faint Perfume. In 2007 and 2008 he received the Ron Hutchinson Award for the most successful jockey at the Melbourne Spring Carnival.