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Wight in action for the Melbourne Demons in 1995. AFL.com
RIP

Tributes flood in for Aussie Rules star Sean Wight

WATCH: Melbourne Demons release video tribute to former Kerry minor who died this morning aged 47.

SEAN WIGHT, THE former Kerry minor footballer and one of Ireland’s first Aussie Rules exports, has died this morning aged 47 following a five-month battle with lung cancer.

Born in Glasgow in 1964, Wight came to prominence during the early 1980s, plying his trade with Kingdom club Listowel Emmets and winning the 1982 All-Ireland Football Final with the Kerry minors.

Spotted by Melbourne Demons scouts as the VFL club launched their “Irish Experiment,” Wight moved down under in 1982, making 150 senior appearances and scoring 63 goals for the Demons between 1985 and 1995.

A club legend, he was inducted into Melbourne’s Hall of Fame in 2008 and was also named on a list of the side’s ‘150 Heroes’.

Earlier today, Wight’s former team-mate and Melbourne’s current club chairman Jim Stynes, undergoing treatment for cancer himself, paid tribute to “a great man and a great teammate and a brother, son and a good friend.”

He’s probably the most competitive and probably the greatest athlete that I’ve played footy with.

“He could’ve been anything, but he chose footy. He could’ve been a professional soccer player or he could’ve been a rugby player. There are so many sports that he was just an all-round athlete at. He played handicap golf towards at the end.

“He could just do everything. Unfortunately, he had a body, and he did a knee when he was 19. In those days, when he did a knee, it was tough to get back from and most players never played again.

“But he just kept putting himself out there and he accomplished great things despite his physical incapability.”

Melbourne director Cameron Schwab also tweeted this short tribute to the footballer earlier:

The club have also released a short video clip highlighting some of Wight’s finest moments in the iconic red and blue strip.