The Catholic brother accused of abusing former Rugby Union star Tony Daly has been nominated for The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame.
The unknown brother abused Daly while the ex-Wallaby prop was a student at St Joseph’s College, Hunter’s Hill, Sydney, and has been blamed for driving Daly to a post-football life of substance abuse and wide-ranging offences. The brother is the first person to be nominated for the award for mere association with a footballer.
The Frownlow Medal is awarded to the player whose off-field demeanour epitomises the values of the modern day footballer and draws attention to the status of footballers as role models to young Australians. It covers Australia’s four major football codes; the National Rugby League (NRL), Australian Football League (AFL), the A-League (Football) and Rugby Union’s Super Rugby competition. Kiwi international and Sydney Roosters player Shaun Kenny-Dowall won the inaugural medal in 2015, while Corey Norman from the Parramatta Eels won in 2016.
The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame honours former players and players who received media attention in previous seasons, for similarly scandalous behaviour, and its inductees include Ben Cousins and Todd Carney.
Daly scored a try during the Wallabies World Cup final victory in 1991 and starred for Randwick’s Galloping Greens as well as the Waratahs, but has since descended into a life less glorious.
His mistakes include petty theft, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, robbery, bankruptcy and stints in rehabilitation. He was also kicked off a flight in The USA by the FBI and failed to attend a court hearing relating to driving offences such as driving while disqualified and injuring a cyclist.
The judge who recently sentenced Daly to community service made a direct link between the abuse of 11-yr-old Daly and his behaviour since hanging up the boots.
Daly revealed this chapter of his past while providing evidence to the royal commission into child abuse.
Inductions into The Frownlow Medal Hall of Fame will be made at the end of 2017.
Image:Nuna
First published in March 2017.
The Frownlow Medal 