Collingwood legend Peter Daicos remembers the great days of Victoria Park

‘I STILL love this place.’ Collingwood legend Peter Daicos remembers the inspiring and intimidating power of Victoria Park when footy was played in the suburbs. INTERACTIVE

GLENN MCFARLANE

3 min read

August 30, 2016 - 4:22PM

Collingwood legend Peter Daicos returns to Victoria Park. Picture: Mark Stewart

PETER Daicos saw the power of Victoria Park from both sides.

As a young South Melbourne fan, he would venture there with a sense of foreboding, given Collingwood rarely lost on its home ground and it wasn’t welcoming to opposition players or fans.

Such was the Pies’ home ground advantage that by halftime, a young Daicos would often be out the back, kicking discarded tin cans, pretending to be one of his footy idols.

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Just a handful of years later, he was one of those idols, wearing black and white stripes and the No. 35 jumper that he would make famous. And instead of honing his skills with soft drink cans, Daicos took to dominating out in the middle, and slotting through goals from acute angles.

“I still love this place,” Daicos said. “If you don’t have a past, you don’t have a history, and this place has been my home-away-from-home for most of my life.”

Few footballers have been admired by the Magpie masses as Daicos, and few have been as intrinsically linked to Victoria Park. He played 85 of his 250 games there, as well as kicking 190 of his 549 goals.

Collingwood legend Peter Daicos takes a trip down memory lane at Victoria Park. Picture: Mark Stewart

He still occasionally brings his two sons — Josh, who is eligible to join the Magpies under the father-son rule later this year, and Nick — for a kick at the ground.

Daicos played his first and last games at Victoria Park — incredibly, both his first and last kicks in league football sailed out of bounds.

His debut match in 1979 saw Collingwood defeat St Kilda by 178 points. ”We absolutely trounced them, so it was a fantastic introduction for me,” he said.

“In the rooms someone said to me, ‘Don’t hang onto the ball too long’, because St Kilda had some tough players in (Geoff) Cunningham and (Greg) Burns. I headed into goal but got a bit overawed and shanked it.”

His last, and 250th, game was in 1993. Collingwood won by 92 points against Sydney, and he only had limited game time due to a knee issue. He deserved a better finish.

Collingwood fans make some noise at Victoria Park in 1988.

The Pies party into the night at their home ground after the 1990 premiership.

Victoria Park is predominantly a community venue now, having hosted top level football from 1892-99. Dogs chase tennis balls, workers from Johnston St eat their lunches in the stands, and kids congregate to have kick-to-kick on the hallowed turf that once hosted Dick Lee, Jock McHale, the Coventrys, the Colliers, Bob Rose, Peter McKenna, Tony Shaw and Daicos.

It is peaceful now. But in another time, it used to be the most intimidating “away” league venue.

Richmond legend Jack Dyer once said his Victoria Park debut introduced him to “the first wave of sustained hate I have ever experienced”.

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Daicos still marvels at Collingwood’s advantage when tribalism was the lifeblood of what was a game back then, not the industry it is now.

He noted how the visitor’s race was in front of the imposing Sherrin Stand and how the opposition interchange bench was in the forward pocket, in front of the Social Club, where he used to do some of his best work. Who could forget his goal in 1991 when he turned Richmond’s Terry Keays inside-out before slotting through a goal that defied both logic and physics?

“That goal wasn’t a rehearsed thing, you just sort of did it without realising,” Daicos said. “You could never underestimate what the noise and the support did to help you do that.”

He remembers where his father used to sit, and where his cousins used to congregate at the Yarra Falls end.

“The beauty of Vic Park was everyone used to sit or stand in the same spot,” he said. “It was a bit like you used to mark your territory because you were there for a shared purpose.”