the TERRY, NEALE, ANTHONY AND CHRIS DANIHER The story of football’s favourite family About the Danihers After a combined 752 VFL/AFL senior games spanning three decades, the Daniher boys are still involved in footy. Terry continues to excel as a country football ambassador and has his own cleaning services business. At the start of 2009, Neale took up the position of football operations manager for the West Coast Eagles. Anthony’ s professional life is the management of Daniher Property Services, although his connection with football remains strong through his son, Darcy, being drafted to the Bombers in 2007 under the father-son rule. Following in his father’s footsteps, Chris is farming and keeping Ungarie Football Club alive. About the author Adam McNicol grew up on a wheat and sheep farm outside the tiny town of Manangatang in north-west Victoria’s Mallee region. While trying to get a kick with the Manangatang Thirds he realised playing football was not his forte, so he took to writing about it instead. Since completing a journalism degree at Melbourne’s RMIT University , Adam has spent most of his time reporting on bush footy for The Age and working as a television sports reporter with Channel 10. He lives in Ballarat. Jacket design: Phil Campbell Front jacket photograph courtesy of Newspix Back jacket photograph by Monty Coles BIOGRAPHY / AFL the TERRY, NEALE, ANTHONY AND CHRIS DANIHER On 1 September 1990, four brothers made Australian Rules history by playing together for the one team, the Essendon Football Club, something that is unlikely to ever happen again. Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris Daniher grew up in a tiny Riverina town where they played footy on Saturdays and Rugby League after mass on Sundays. They reached the elite level in an era when tobacco sponsorship and a few beers with the opposition after a game were the norm. It was a time when Jim Daniher could throw a teenage son into a trade deal and Kevin Sheedy and Edna Daniher could conspire to make a dream come true. But it wasn’t all plain sailing: injuries cut short a promising career, trading between clubs was largely unregulated, South Melbourne Football Club was shunted off to Sydney and coaching changed dramatically. This is the action-packed story of the period when Aussie Rules went national and football became big business, seen through the eyes of an unassuming bunch of blokes from the bush. It’s about how the Danihers endeared themselves to footy fans and became part of football folklore. ‘They say nostalgia is the most powerful drug in the universe. If so, this book should be banned.’ KEVIN SHEEDY DANIHERS DANIHERS DANIHERS the Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd iDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd i 23/3/09 12:04:56 PM23/3/09 12:04:56 PM Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd iiDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd ii 23/3/09 12:04:56 PM23/3/09 12:04:56 PM DANIHERS the TERRY, NEALE, ANTHONY AND CHRIS DANIHER as told to Adam McNicol Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd iiiDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd iii 23/3/09 12:04:57 PM23/3/09 12:04:57 PM First published in 2009 Copyright © Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris Daniher and Adam McNicol 2009 Photographs on pages (ii) and (viii) by Adam McNicol. Photographs on pages 14, 22, 36, 72, 104, 138, 186, 214, 200 and pages 1 and 8 of the picture section are from the Danihers’ private collection. All other photography of images used in the endpapers and picture section is by Greg Elms, taken from Edna Daniher’s scrapbooks of her four sons’ football careers. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10% of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: info@allenandunwin.com Web: www.allenandunwin.com National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry: Daniher, Terry. The Danihers: the story of football’s favourite family / Terry Daniher … [et al.] ; as told to Adam McNicol. 1st ed. ISBN 978 1 74175 651 7 (hbk.) Includes index. 1. Daniher, Terry, 1957– 2. Daniher, Neale, 1961–. 3. Daniher, Anthony, 1963–. 4. Daniher, Chris, 1966–. 5. Essendon Football Club–History. 6. Football players–Victoria–History. 7. Football teams–Victoria–History. 8. Australian football–History. Other Authors/Contributors: McNicol, Adam, 1978– 796.336099451 Jacket design by Phil Campbell Text and picture section design and typesetting by Pauline Haas Jacket photograph (back) by Monty Coles Jacket photograph (front) courtesy of Newspix Printed in Singapore by KHL Printing Co Pty Ltd 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd ivDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd iv 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM FOR MUM AND DAD WE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DO ALL WE’VE DONE WITHOUT YOUR LOVE, SUPPORT AND PATIENCE. with thanks from your boys ‘TO SUM UP THE DANIHERS. FOUR INGREDIENTS. SPIRIT, FANTASTIC. PASSION, UNBELIEVABLE. LOYALTY AND TRUST, IMPECCABLE.’ kevin sheedy Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd vDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd v 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM CONTENTS Introduction: The road to Ungarie 1 1 Daniher country 8 2 The pride of the district 15 3 You play anything when you’re young 23 4 Something a bit special 37 5 A young bloke coming through 44 6 A kid named Terry Daniher 49 7 Fair dinkum about footy 58 8 A born leader 73 9 Knockin’ around with blokes 82 10 Making life a bit more interesting 94 11 Just another Daniher 105 12 The Iceman 115 13 The best player in the club 130 14 All the glitz and glamour 139 15 This time it’s different 153 16 Fingers crossed 164 17 Loyalty 177 Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd viDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd vi 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM 18 Following in your brothers’ footsteps 187 19 Hard, tough and talented 199 20 Pitching in and having a go 208 21 Doing the old home town proud 215 22 In footy you just get on with it 234 23 Grin and cop it 243 24 You’re the bloody coach, mate! 252 25 A fork in the road 262 26 Foot y 101 277 27 Family ties 291 28 A bit of the old, a bit of the new 299 29 Sermons laced with hope and energy 308 30 Footy sucks sometimes 322 31 The new generation 333 Football career statistics 342 Author’s note 344 Acknowledgements 348 Index 352 Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd viiDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd vii 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM Jim Daniher Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd viiiDaniher Text 23-3.1.indd viii 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM INTRODUCTION THE ROAD TO UNGARIE O ur hire car’s headlights briefly illuminate a sign by the roadside. From the top it reads Ungarie 42, Condobolin 105, Lake Cargelligo 115. A smile creeps across Neale Daniher’s face. ‘When we see the name Ungarie we know we’re almost home.’ The outskirts of West Wyalong disappear as the last rays of sunshine fade. It is May 2008. We are in southern New South Wales, 550 kilometres from Sydney and around 600 from Melbourne. More than six hours earlier, I collected Neale and his teenage son Ben from the family’s large home in Melbourne’s leafy eastern suburbs. We drove north, passing through Shepparton and the Murray River town of Tocumwal. Discussions flowed, mostly about footy. It was a Monday morning and Neale expressed his relief at not dreading the day, like he had after a loss when coaching Melbourne. Instead, he could watch the season unfold without the stress of having his job continually on the line. He could simply enjoy the game again. Neale had even joined the media. Before we set off he appeared on Neil Mitchell’s popular radio program on 3AW, discussing the weekend’s results. As it happened, the Demons were the story of the day. Less than 24 hours before, they had staged a remarkable comeback from 51 points down to beat Fremantle at the MCG. Ben was delighted with the result. Despite his dad parting ways with the club, he still loves the Dees. Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd 1Daniher Text 23-3.1.indd 1 23/3/09 12:04:58 PM23/3/09 12:04:58 PM [...]... for the Daniher story to be recorded The tale will focus on Neale and his brothers, Terry, Anthony and Chris, and their remarkable achievements The time is right to consider the tremendous opportunities bequeathed by their parents’ hard work Throughout their lives the boys have been doers Now, more than a decade since Chris, the youngest, retired from the AFL, it is time to take a breath and ponder the. .. intermission at Lampard’s picture theatre The theatre now stands empty Back then, floods were the norm Every couple of years the Humbug Creek would inundate the town Now the meandering watercourse rarely breaks its banks Only the Rural Transaction Centre, a one-size-fits-all bank branch, post office and Internet facility, looks alive and modern 6 THE DANIHERS Further up the street, the two-storey Central Hotel... new side of his father Ben listens quietly Jim will barely take a breath until we head back to Melbourne three days later The following day we take Jim for a drive Remarkably, there is no sign on the outskirts of Ungarie proclaiming the town as the home of the Danihers and Jim likes it that way First stop is the footy ground, where Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris began their careers and where Jim ran... the father of Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris arrived Named after his father, Jim 12 THE DANIHERS junior would become a local sporting legend in his own right, as would Leo, born in 1930 The fifth born, Joan, tragically died at three months of age Terese rounded out the family when she entered the world in 1934 Despite their new family commitments, the Daniher family continued to strongly support their... two fellas and he was going cross-ways across the field He threw the ball on his boot and it THE PRIDE OF THE DISTRICT 17 went straight up and through the goals That was the turning point of the game Never forgot that.’ Celebrations involved warm beer (fridges were an unaffordable luxury) and a dance at the local hall The Danihers were all among the most influential players Footy in the Northern Riverina... get Rules in there,’ he remembers ‘I went to the butcher shop, the café, the little shop, the store and pub and said the bloody headmaster wouldn’t let us go in and coach kids Within ten days he was ringing us up and saying, “She’s right.” They’re like bloody politicians.’ The new generation of Danihers was much like the old Sport dominated their lives At school, Terry and Neale lived for the breaks... blokes, the Danihers never dreamed they would achieve such a feat After all, in the 93-year history of the VFL and AFL, never before had a quartet of brothers run out in the same team As the boys sat in the change rooms, ice-packs on their sore limbs, their knockabout demeanour suggested they might have just played for Ungarie at an oval ringed by cars rather than screaming fans In their country drawl, they... kudos to the Daniher name And given the players that would emerge in the ensuing decades, the code has plenty to thank him for Jim, Jack and Leo CHAPTER T WO THE PR IDE OF THE DISTR ICT T he sons of Jim Daniher senior were a fearsome trio on the football field Jack, Jim junior and Leo wore Ungarie’s unique black and white horizontal stripes from their early teens until they could barely walk The boys... World War II, all three brothers had finished school and returned to the family farm, although Jack would later move into town and pursue a new career as a shearer In 1946, when Ungarie’s team took the field for the first time in five years, the Danihers immediately established themselves as key players In particular, Jim became the one to watch The tallest of the 16 THE DANIHERS trio, he was skilful,... they said the occasion had been ‘t’riffic’ and a ‘bloody good show’ They had capped a remarkable journey, one that began in Ungarie, their tiny home town, surrounded by Rugby League territory, amid the dusty plains of western New South Wales But the Danihers were a football family long before Terry, Neale, Anthony and Chris became household names In the early part of the 20th century, when the VFL was . for the Daniher story to be recorded. The tale will focus on Neale and his brothers, Terry, Anthony and Chris, and their remarkable achievements. The. folklore. ‘They say nostalgia is the most powerful drug in the universe. If so, this book should be banned.’ KEVIN SHEEDY DANIHERS DANIHERS DANIHERS the Daniher