Stephen Boyle is a former Australian rules football

Australian rules football

Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played with Footscray

Western Bulldogs

The Western Bulldogs are an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League . The club is based at the Whitten Oval in West Footscray, an inner-western suburb of Melbourne...

 in the Victorian Football League

Australian Football League

The Australian Football League is both the governing body and the major professional competition in the sport of Australian rules football...

 (VFL).

Recruited from Moe, Boyle was a half forward flanker who kicked at least one goal in each of his six appearances for Footscray in the 1972 VFL season

1972 VFL season

Results and statistics for the Victorian Football League season of 1972.-Premiership season:In 1972, the VFL competition consisted of twelve teams of 18 on-the-field players each, plus two substitute players, known as the 19th man and the 20th man...

. Just a week after the infamous John Greening

John Greening

John Greening is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Collingwood in the VFL.Tasmanian born, Greening moved to Victoria in 1967 aged 16, and attended Northcote High School, after being recruited by Collingwood Football Club...

 incident had taken place, Boyle also suffered a career ending injury. Playing his sixth league game, against St Kilda at Western Oval, he badly injured an eye after a collision with defender Kevin "Cowboy Neale

Kevin Neale

Kevin "Cowboy" Neale is a former Australian rules footballer who played in the Victorian Football League .-St Kilda :...

. He was admitted to hospital with bleeding behind his eye and needed surgery to stop blood from reaching his brain. Doctors were unable to prevent him from permanently losing the sight of his right eye and although he attempted a comeback he never played another VFL game.

He was the second of three family members who had their sporting careers ruined by injury. His mother, Nancy Boyle, was a short distance runner and briefly held the 440 yard world record

Women's 400 metres world record progression

The first world record in the 400 m for women was recognized by the International Amateur Athletics Federation, now known as the International Association of Athletics Federations, in 1957....

 in 1957. She missed out on qualifying for the 1960 Rome Olympics when she accidentally stepped on a nail. He also has a son, Tim Boyle

Tim Boyle

Tim Boyle is a former Australian rules football player, playing forward with the Hawthorn Hawks of the Australian Football League. His career has been plagued by injuries. In 2004 he broke his leg in a freak pre-season training drill injury, and in 2005 a torn hamstring limited him to just 3 games...

, who played for Hawthorn

Hawthorn Football Club

The Hawthorn Football Club, nicknamed the Hawks, is a professional Australian rules football club in the Australian Football League . The club, founded in 1902, is the youngest of the Victorian-based teams in the AFL. The team play in Brown & Gold vertically striped guernseys...

but was forced into retirement at the age of 25, due to multiple injuries.