Eduard Herbert Melai (28 February 1941[3] – 28 April 2004[4]) was an Australian rules footballer most notable for his career with the Dandenong Football Club in the Victorian Football Association during the 1960s and 1970s.
| Eddie Melai | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal information | |||
| Full name | Eduard Herbert Melai[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 28 February 1941 | ||
| Place of birth | Netherlands | ||
| Date of death | 28 April 2004 (aged 63) | ||
| Original team(s) | East Geelong[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Ruckman | ||
| Playing career1 | |||
| Years | Club | Games (Goals) | |
| 1964 | South Melbourne | 7 (2) | |
| 1965–1976 | Dandenong | 202 | |
|
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1976. | |||
| Career highlights | |||
| |||
| Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com | |||
Melai played fifty games with Geelong reserves in the Victorian Football League during the early 1960s,[5] and was part of Geelong's 1963 reserves premiership team, but he did not play a senior game for the club.[6] He was cleared to South Melbourne, and played seven senior matches there during the 1964 season.[3]
In 1965, Melai crossed to Dandenong in the Victorian Football Association without a clearance. It was a historic transfer, as he was the first player to make the switch from the VFL to the VFA without a clearance after the VFA had terminated its transfer agreement with the VFL in April that year – a consequence of the bitter deterioration in relations between the two competitions following North Melbourne's relocation to Coburg.[7]
Melai became the mainstay ruckman of the Dandenong team over the next decade, a successful time which saw Melai win premierships in 1967 – notably knocking umpire David Jackson unconscious in an accidental collision during the controversial Grand Final[8] – and 1971, and he played off in a further three Grand Finals in 1969, 1972 and 1975. Melai retired from the VFA in June 1976, after having played 202 games for the Redlegs.[9]
After retiring from playing with the club, he stayed on with Dandenong as a runner, and was suspended for six weeks after the 1976 Grand Final for using abusive language during the brawls for which that game became infamous.[10] Melai continued to play football at suburban level until 1979. In the early 1990s, he served as a runner and team manager for the St Kilda Football Club.[4]
Melai died at age 63 after suffering a stroke in April 2004.[4] Later that year he was named as the ruckman of Dandenong's Team of the Century.[11]
References edit
- ^ "Tributes:Eduard Herbert Melai". Herald Sun.
- ^ Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia Of AFL Footballers. BAS Publishing. ISBN 9781920910785.
- ^ a b "Eddy Melai". AFL Tables. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ a b c Nabila Ahmed (29 July 2004). "VFA legend dies at 63 after stroke". The Age. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ Marc Fiddian (5 May 1976). "Eddie nets a goal – 200 up!". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 31.
- ^ "Reserves". Geelong Cats. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
- ^ Kevin Hogan (18 June 1966). "Transfer rule averts "war"". The Sun News-Pictorial. Melbourne, VIC. p. 55.
- ^ "Umpire: How I got KO'd". The Sun News-Pictorial. 25 September 1967. p. 3.
- ^ Marc Fiddian (5 June 1976). "Dandies pluck Roosters clean". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 20.
- ^ Marc Fiddian; Ken Knox (22 September 1976). "Haenen in the clear". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. p. 34.
- ^ "Teams of the Century". Footystats. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 19 April 2014.
External links edit
- Eddie Melai's playing statistics from AFL Tables