David Dench (born 23 August 1951) is a former

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

er in the (then)

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football league in Australia serving as one of the second-tier regional semi-professional competitions which sit underneath the fully professional Australian Football League (AFL). It ...

. He played his whole career with

North Melbourne Football Club The North Melbourne Football Club, nicknamed the Kangaroos, is a professional Australian rules football club. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Kangaroos also ...

during one of its most successful periods.

VFL career

Dench played full-back. He was recruited from the West Coburg. Dench won the North Melbourne club's

best and fairest In Australian sport, the best and fairest award recognises the player(s) adjudged to have had the best performance in a game or over a season for a given sporting club or competition. The awards are sometimes dependent on not receiving a suspensi ...

award, the Syd Barker Medal, on four occasions - 1971, 1976, 1977, 1981. In 1972 David Dench at the age of 21 he became one of the youngest captains appointed in the ''Kangaroo's'' history. He also captained the 1977 premiership team, due to

Keith Greig Keith Southby Greig (born 23 October 1951) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the North Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Red-haired and pale-skinned, Greig was regarded as one of the most gr ...

's absence because of an injury. In the 1977 VFL Grand Final,

Ron Barassi Ronald Dale Barassi Jr. (born 27 February 1936) is a former Australian rules footballer, coach and media personality. Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the game, Barassi was the first player to be inaugurated into ...

moved him to the forward line, where he sparked

's revival by contributing to the forward line and kicking goals, to draw with

Collingwood Football Club The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed the Magpies or colloquially the Pies, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's elite competition. The club w ...

. A graphic and comical photograph of Dench smothering of a kick by

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

's John Roberts was made in 1981 by

Michael Rayner Michael Rayner (6 December 1932 – 13 July 2015)Mackie, David. "Obituaries: Michael Rayner", ''Gilbert and Sullivan News'', Vol. V, No. 9, Autumn/Winter 2015, pp. 17–18, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society was an English opera singer, best kno ...

of ''The Age'' which won the Nikon Awards Best Sports Photograph of the Year. In 1984 Dench was told by his coach

Barry Cable Barry Thomas Cable MBE (born 22 September 1943) is a former Australian rules footballer and coach. Considered one of the greatest rovers in the sport's history, he played in 379 premiership games in the Western Australian Football League (WAFL ...

that his playing days were numbered and was going to play out the season in the reserves. Dench was not happy with this so he grabbed his gear and went home and retired. His relationship with Cable has been fractured ever since, with Dench refusing to speak to Cable again. When John (Kanga) Kennedy was appointed coach he tried to convince Dench to play again but the condition of his knees was poor and he stayed as an assistant coach.

Post AFL career and personal life

In 2000 Dench was inducted into the

Australian Football Hall of Fame The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coa ...

. His daughter, Michelle is a distinguished Australian sportswoman. She played high level basketball before taking up Australian football playing over 100 games for her club Melbourne University. She also represented Victoria and Australia as well as captaining her club to a premiership. In 2008, Dench served 4 months in jail for his minor role in a scheme to defraud Victoria University out of millions of dollars.

References

External links

AFL Hall of Fame
North Melbourne Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club Premiership players Australian Football Hall of Fame inductees Syd Barker Medal winners Australian white-collar criminals 1951 births Living people Australian rules footballers from Victoria (Australia) Victorian State of Origin players Two-time VFL/AFL Premiership players {{AFL-bio-1950s-stub