For passionate, life-long Richmond fan and sports writer, Tony Hardy, the opportunity to be the author of a book about the greatest Tiger of them all – Jack Dyer – was simply irresistible.
Hardy, in his mid-40s, obviously hadn’t seen Dyer play, but like most Yellow and Black devotees of his age, he’d heard and read plenty about the legendary deeds of “Captain Blood”.
When approached by Slattery Publishing to write the book “Finding Jack Dyer”, he had no hesitation in tackling the assignment.
“It was fantastic to go beyond the old clichés, like how many collarbones Jack had broken, and get into his story about getting to Richmond in the ‘Great Depression’, and how he went surviving in Richmond,” Hardy said.
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“During the Depression, Richmond was more horrible than we can imagine.
“Back then, people in Richmond, who barracked for Richmond, they had nothing – literally nothing.
“There was chronic unemployment. It peaked at 33%, which today would be completely unthinkable. There was nothing to eat, there was disease . . . it was a really horrible time.
“And, along came Jack, who was a prodigious (football) talent.
“Football was an escape for people on the weekend, and here was this hero.
“And, he was not only a heroic footballer with talent, but he hurt other players. He hurt the opposition, and when people are down like that, they want to hurt people, because they’re angry.
“Jack was perfect for them, and he loved it. Jack lifted Richmond people. That was his role and that’s why he’s so big.
“That’s why we’ve got a statue of him out the front, because not only did he last so long, but he was this great hero and great leader.”
Hardy agrees with the assessment that Jack Dyer is the embodiment of the famous Richmond ‘Eat ‘em Alive’ spirit . . .
“Eat ‘em Alive is a really aggressive thing to say, but Jack not only said it, he backed it up,” Hardy said.
“The players used to sit there at half-time and three-quarter time and look at him, and he’d be hurting. Near the end of his career, he’d be vomiting before the game, and quarter-time and half-time, because he had terrible stomach trouble, his knees were busted, he’d have a dislocated finger . . . He was a mess, and he’d be snarling, saying, ‘Come on, we’re Richmond, go and get ‘em, Eat ‘em Alive!’
“The blokes would be staring at him, thinking, well, I have to. I can’t jib this because this man’s half dead and he’s going to run out and kill people for Richmond. How can I not be by his side!”
After such a wonderful league playing and coaching career, Dyer became a football pioneer off the field.
“Jack was one of the first great (football) media people,” Hardy said.
“If you go back to ‘League Teams’, there’s Jack.
“All the big, popular (TV) football shows now, they owe it all to blokes like Jack and Lou Richards . . .”
