NT footy legend’s latest goal to help fight brain disease
A Territory AFL legend is using his terminal cancer to make a priceless donation to medical science. Read what he has planned.
Northern Territory
Don't miss out on the headlines from Northern Territory. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Northern Territory football legend will donate his brain to science to help with research into sports-related concussion trauma.
Trevor Sutton, the first player to kick 100 goals in the NTFL, has been diagnosed with a terminal form of bowel cancer that is expected to take his life within the next few years.
When he dies, he has signed up with the Australian Sports Brain Bank to donate his brain, eyes and a foot of his spinal cord for medical research.
A bush footy legend, Sutton played five seasons with Nightcliff in the NTFL during the 1970s and 1980s before returning here to live at Mandorah from 2001 until 2016.
Trevor broke the then Northern Territory Football League’s century drought playing for Nightcliff in 1979-80 during a prolific bush-footy career that saw him play in every Australian state and the Northern Territory.
He bettered his success in Darwin with a stunning season for Deniliquin in the Murray League in 1982 where he kicked an Australian record 249 goals for the season. His footy career ended when he played his last game aged 55 and he was later an assistant coach to Merv Neagle at St Mary’s in the early 2000s.
He played state footy for Queensland and New South Wales and abandoned a potential career with Footscray in the VFL because of his dislike for cities.
A lover of the game and grateful for the opportunities footy gave him during his professional life, Sutton has no intention of joining the class actions launched by past players seeking compensation for legacy brain damage suffered on the field.
When he dies, a family member will call the brain donor line and he’s hoping the donation will increase scientific knowledge into chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
“It’s (the brain) not much use to me when I’m dead,” he said.
“It goes to the brain bank in Sydney - a foot of spinal column, eyes and the brain. I urge people to donate their brain or it will just be wasted.”
Sutton suffered a number of fractured skulls during a 40-plus-year playing career but said he played the game knowing the threat of injury.
“The guys that are suing, I think it stinks,” he said.
“We played the game without realising the long-term risks but we knew the dangers of the game and the injuries we could get.
“Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. I was the one who put my bloody stupid ugly head in the way. I’m not blaming anybody else for that because I knew when I went out I could hurt myself.”
Originally published as NT footy legend’s latest goal to help fight brain disease
Group of Chinese nationals found stumbling through bushland in NT
Another group of foreigners has been found stumbling through the bush in the Top End this week, with the government refusing to comment on the matter.
Alice Springs police prosecutor allegedly involved in Coles arrest
A NT Police prosecutor was allegedly involved in the arrest of a young disabled Aboriginal man in an Alice Springs supermarket, which is currently subject to a death in custody investigation.