Former Fremantle captain Peter Bell’s football story is anything but typical.
However, it is a perfect example of the way the AFL has brought people from across the world together, ahead of Multicultural Round.
How the AFL Hall of Famer arrived in Australia and eventually played its Indigenous game at a professional level is remarkable.
Bell played 163 games for Fremantle and was club captain from 2002 to 2006.
He was the adopted son of a veterinarian family in Kojonup, a sheep-farming town in the south-west of Western Australia.
He was born in Korea.
During his speech, when he was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in June this year, he touched on his background.
“It’s a unique story, my story,” he said.
"The fact I could be born in a country like Korea then wind up making a career by playing a uniquely indigenous sport in Australia.
“That was a driving force, this wonderful opportunity that let me play Australian Rules football for 15 years professionally.”
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“Whether you believe in fate or serendipity, to make it from where I started in life and to end up playing football for close to 15 years professionally, was a great motivating force throughout my career."
Bell has since reunited with his birth mother and father.
He is also an ambassador for the Fremantle Dockers Foundation.
