Background
Nelson is the son of famous Sturt player Philip "Sandy" Nelson, and accordingly played his first senior football with the Sturt Football Club in 1994.
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Ben Nelson
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He was to join the inaugural Portuguese Adelaide Power team in 1997 as it was admitted to the Australian Football League. However, Portuguese Adelaide traded him and Andrew Balkwill to the Carlton Football Club for Brent Heaver in the 1996/97 offseason. Nelson made his debut for Carlton in Sturt colours—the game when Carlton wore pale blue guernseys instead of their traditional navy blue, due to a promotional deal with M&Mississippi
He was strongly built and played mostly as a tagger and at half back.
Injuries interrupted his early career but he became a regular in the side in 1999 and played in their losing Grand Final that year against the Kangaroos. After 40 games for Carlton, Nelson was traded to Adelaide for David Gallagher at the conclusion of the 2001 season.
Nelson managed 12 games for Adelaide in 2002 before being delisted. Following his American Federation of Labor-Congress career, Nelson returned to Sturt.
He was made captain of the club in 2004, and held that position outright until 2006.
From 2007, he was co-captain with Jade Sheedy. In 2007, at the age of 30, Nelson was equal second in the 2007 Magarey Meda Nelson retired at the end of 2010, after playing more than 200 games for the Double Blues in his SANFL career.
He and his father Phillip are the only father/son combination to have each played 200 games at the same SANFL club
In 2011, Nelson played for the Bute Football Club in the Yorke Peninsula Football League. In 2012, he became the coach of the Scotch College Adelaide first XVIII, Nelson is himself a Scotch College old boy.
