book - finished reading

The Danihers: The story of football's favourite family as told to Adam McNicol (Allen & Unwin 2009)

From publisher's notes

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, the Swans were shunted off to Sydney and coaching changed dramatically.

This is an action-packed story of the period when the national Aussie Rules competition emerged and football became big business, and an unassuming bunch of blokes from the bush endeared themselves to footy fans and became part of football folklore.

About Terry Daniher Neale Daniher Anthony Daniher Chris Daniher
After a combined 752 VFL/AFL games, the Danihers continue to be involved in football. Since his playing and coaching days finished, Terry has excelled as a country football ambassador for the AFL. At the start of 2009, Neale took up the position of football operations manager for the West Coast Eagles, having coached the Melbourne Football Club for ten years. Anthony's professional life is the management of Daniher Property Services, and he keeps a keen eye on his son, Darcy, who was 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.

I don't usually read biographies about sports people (the last one was James Hird's autobiography), but this one was an excellent read. Aside from the four brothers being absolute legends of the game, Adam McNicol's descriptions of Essendon Football Club a generation ago are amazing. Once upon a time after games, players would light up cigarettes in the change rooms or have a beer with the other team. They were different times then.