On Saturday, August 7 he played his 500th game.

Pepe was out of football with a fractured cheekbone in 1988 and watching his wife Kathy play hockey when he was asked to fill in.

“I had an injury and couldn’t play football,”?Pepe said.

“The third week the B grade (hockey)?team were short and I?ended up filling in for them.

“After a couple of games I?thought; ‘this is something different’.”

He took a liking to the game, so finished off the season of football then switched to hockey as his winter sport.

He plays for Risdon Hockey Club in division four.

He loves the social side of hockey which has been a family affair for him with the couple’s two daughters, Tiah and Gabriel, both representing South Australia in the past.

He loves getting to know his opponents and talking to people who are on the same field as him.

He likes to play mostly every position except goalie.

“I like to move around, I don’t want to be standing there in one spot for the whole game,” Pepe said.

The highlight of his playing career was the premiership game he played on little sleep - after one of his daughters was born in the middle of the night.

500th game...Marty Pepe played his 500th hockey game on August 7 - after starting to play as a fill in while injuried from football.