Quick Facts
Biography
Jamie Tape (5 April 1974 – 3 January 2003) was an Australian rules footballer.
Childhood
Jamie grew up in the small South Australian country town of Coobowie on the Yorke Peninsula. He attended Yorketown Area school just down the road.
Football career
After amassing 75 games and winning the 1993 South Australian National Football League (SANFL) Premiership with Woodville-West Torrens Football Club, Tape moved to Australian Football League (AFL) club Richmond in 1994 after initially being selected with pick #28 in the 1992 AFL Draft.
Tape enjoyed a highly-promising first three seasons with the Tigers, playing in 67 out of a possible 69 games and rewarded with an AFL Rising Star nomination. He shared Richmond's best first year player award with fellow South Australian rookie Matthew Rogers, as well as State of Origin representation. However Tape began struggling with injury in following years, so much so that he managed just eight more games for Richmond before being traded to Collingwood with teammate Brad Smith in exchange for the Magpies' Aaron James and pick #71 in the 1997 AFL Draft.
Tape' AFL career ended in 1999 following 16 games with Collingwood, after which he returned to the SANFL with Woodville-West Torrens.
Battle with illness and death
After having only just overcome a 10-month battle with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, Tape died soon after a suspected brain aneurysm while at the wheel of his car not far from his home on the evening of 3 January 2003.