Jack Dyer

Jack Dyer
Personal information
Full name	John Raymond Dyer Sr.
Nickname(s)	Captain Blood
Date of birth	(1913-11-15)15 November 1913
Place of birth	Oakleigh, Victoria
Date of death	23 August 2003(2003-08-23) (aged 89)
Place of death	Box Hill, Victoria
Original team(s)	St. Ignatius
Height / weight	185cm / 89kg
Position(s)	Ruck
Playing career1
Years	Club	Games (Goals)
1931–1949	Richmond	312 (443)
Representative team honours
Years	Team	Games (Goals)
	Victoria	16
Coaching career3
Years	Club	Games (W–L–D)
1941–1952	Richmond	226 (135–89–2)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1949. 3 Coaching statistics correct as of 1952.
Career highlights
VFL 2x VFL Premiership: 1934, 1943 6x Richmond Best & Fairest: 1932, 1937–1940, 1946 VFL Premiership Captain-Coach: 1943 2x Richmond leading goalkicker: 1947, 1948 Richmond Captain: 1941-1949 AFL Team of the Century Australian Football Hall of Fame - Legend Status, (Inaugural Legend) Richmond Team of the Century Richmond Hall of Fame - Immortal Status, (Inaugural) Tiger Treasure (The Strong & the Bold) Representative National Football Carnival: Championship: 1937 Victoria Captain: 1941, 1949 Coaching VFL Premiership: 1943
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

External image

Caricature of Jack Dyer by Alex Gurney. Source: The Australian Cartoon Museum.

VFL

Representative

Coaching

John Raymond "Jack" Dyer Sr. OAM (15 November 1913 – 23 August 2003), nicknamed Captain Blood, was an Australian rules footballer who played for the Richmond Football Club in the Victorian Football League between 1931 and 1952. One of the game's most prominent players, he was one of 12 inaugural "Legends" inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame. He later turned to coaching and work in the media as a broadcaster and journalist.

Dyer was born in Oakleigh, now a south-eastern suburb of Melbourne, but grew up in the small farming hamlet of Yarra Junction on the Yarra River, approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) east of the city. His parents, Ben and Nellie, were of Irish descent. The second of three children, Dyer had an elder brother, Vin, and a younger sister, Eileen. Dyer first played football at the Yarra Junction primary school. For his secondary education, Dyer was sent by his parents to St Ignatius in Richmond. He boarded in the city with an aunt. One of the brothers running the school offered Dyer a sporting scholarship to De La Salle College, Malvern. After leaving school with several sporting trophies, Dyer played with St Ignatius on Saturdays and with Richmond Hill Old Boys in a mid-week competition. Dyer's desire was to play for Richmond in the VFL as he admired one of the Tigers' players, George Rudolph.

In 1930, Dyer won the Metropolitan League's award for the best player at the age of 16. Richmond officials had not yet attempted to sign him, and Dyer applied for a clearance to play with the Tigers' main rival, Collingwood. The Richmond officials wanted to see him in action before any decision was made and Dyer was in training with Richmond for the start of the 1931 season. Richmond's coach 'Checker' Hughes pitting Dyer against veteran Joe Murdoch in a practice session. Dyer hardly touched the ball and was disheartened about his prospects until Hughes consoled him by explaining the pairing with Murdoch was a trial of courage, not skill.