Damien Nygaard is a former Australian sportsman. He played 96 SANFL matches with Norwood and made three appearances for South Australia between 1964 and 1969. Nygaard is probably best remembered by most for his collision with Glenelg hard-man Neil Kerley

Neil Kerley

Donald Neil Kerley OAM is a former Australian rules football player and coach. Known to his mates as either Neil or Knuckles and to South Australian football fans as King Kerley or simply "Kerls", he is best known for taking three clubs to four SANFL premierships over three decades as both a...

 in 1969 where he sustained a broken jaw.

He finished his Australian football career with West Perth

West Perth Football Club

The West Perth Football Club, nicknamed the Falcons, is an Australian rules football club located in Joondalup, Western Australia, competing in the West Australian Football League . It is the oldest existing Australian rules football club in Western Australia. It competes in the West Australian...

, where despite being a much hyped recruit, he failed to live up to his expected promise. Despite this, Nygaard tried his hand at the American gridiron

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 in 1974, as punter with the NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

's Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers

The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

, more than fifteen years before a more successful conversion by Darren Bennett.