Australian Football

Footscray recruited Dave Darcy from Sunshine YCW and used him initially as a half forward, where he was serviceable but hardly outstanding. At the end of Darcy's debut season of 1963, Bulldogs coach Ted Whitten tried him as a defender during the VFL night series, and his performance levels lifted noticeably. After that, he never looked back, and became one of the most reliable and consistent key position backmen in the league.

In 1967 Darcy had to relocate temporarily to South Australia for business reasons, and he spent the year playing for South Adelaide, where his form was outstanding, and he was regarded as unfortunate not to make the state team. Resuming with Footscray in 1968, Darcy carried on playing for another four seasons, taking his final career tally to 133 VFL games. He had also represented the VFL in four interstate matches in 1965.

In 1972 Darcy was enticed back to South Adelaide as captain-coach. He spent two seasons in the role, steering the consistently under-achieving Panthers to consecutive ninth place finishes, and taking his personal SANFL games tally to 44. In 11 seasons of league football, Dave Darcy never once participated in a finals series. He remained at South as non-playing coach in 1974 and the team managed marginal improvement, winning seven of its 22 matches to finish eighth, but it was not enough to persuade the club committee to retain his services, and he was replaced by Haydn Bunton junior.

Author - John Devaney