Patrick Guinane (31 January 1939 – 8 December 2019) was an

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 ...

player who played in the

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 ...

(VFL) between

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

and

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

for the

Richmond Football Club The Richmond Football Club, nicknamed the Tigers, is an Australian rules football team playing in the Australian Football League (AFL). Between its inception in the Melbourne suburb of Richmond in 1885 and 1907, the club competed in the Victo ...

Football career

''Paddy'' Guinane was a powerfully built key position player who mainly played as a forward. He was vice-captain of Richmond's 1967 premiership team and was the Club's leading goalkicker in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

and 1968. From 1969 he spent two seasons with

Victorian Football Association 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 ...

(VFA) 1st division side

Dandenong Dandenong is a southeastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, about from the Melbourne CBD. It is the council seat of the City of Greater Dandenong local government area, with a recorded population of 30,127 at the . Situated mainly ...

. Invited by his former teammate Tony Jewell in 1971 to join him at Caulfield, Guinane was at centre half forward as the Bears defeated Brunswick in the 1973 VFA's 2nd division grand final. On retirement as a player Guinane coached the Richmond under-19s in 1978-79 and then the reserves in 1980-81, before serving as a Club Board member from 1985–87, and again in 1989.

Dimattina incident

In the round 15 match against Collingwood, at the

Melbourne Cricket Ground The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), also known locally as "The 'G", is an Australian sports stadium located in Yarra Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, Victoria. Founded and managed by the Melbourne Cricket Club, it is the largest stadiu ...

(M.C.G). on Saturday, 6 August 1966, Richmond player Frank Dimattina was chasing the ball somewhere between the forward-flank and centre-half forward, bent over, with his head down, concentrating on the ball, and his hands nearly at ground level, when Guinane, running at full tilt from full-forward, bounced off Collingwood's

Mick Erwin Michael Erwin (born 6 June 1943) is a former Australian rules football player who played in the VFL between 1962 and 1964 for the Collingwood Football Club and from 1965 to 1968 for the Richmond Football Club. Erwin crossed to Coburg in th ...

, and smashed into Dimattina's head with one of his massive thighs at full force. It was obvious that, for some inexplicable reason, Guinane had not seen Dimattina; and because Guinane was having one of his intermittent bad days, it is most likely he was running to get to centre-half forward, and was looking up the ground into the distance. Guinane nearly killed him; Dimattina was very, very badly concussed, and had a broken nose. He was replaced by the 19th man, Kevin Bartlett.

Family

Paddy's father

Danny Guinane Danny Guinane (18 May 1911 – 28 August 1992) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL). Guinane, a defender, came to Richmond from South Ballarat. He polled eight Brownlow Medal votes i ...

, played 103 senior games with Richmond from 1934–39 and 1942-43. In 2014, Richmond named its Reserves Best and Fairest award the Guinane Medal, in honour of both Paddy and Danny.

Later life

During the 1970s, Guinane was a science teacher at Richmond Technical College, later becoming Vice-Principal. He died in 2019, aged 80.

References

;General * Hogan P: ''The Tigers Of Old'', Richmond FC, Melbourne 1996

External links

* * Richmond Football Club players Richmond Football Club premiership players Caulfield Football Club players Caulfield Football Club coaches Dandenong Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state) 1939 births 2019 deaths VFL/AFL premiership players {{AFL-bio-1930s-stub