'People like me come and go' — RIP Neale Daniher

They don't though. The great Neale Daniher has died, as the footy world has long feared he might. For years he held off MND. He's a true hero to so many of us. He changed the country.

If you start watching the video above you might not be able to stop crying. I’m talking mainly to Australians, because we’ve lived former AFL player and coach Neale Daniher’s campaign to fight motor neurone disease since he was diagnosed in 2013.

From the first day he came out of the blocks fighting. He started his Fight MND charity, and advocated relentlessly and brilliantly in the search for a cure. The first Big Freeze game was in 2015, and in the years that have followed Fight MND has raised over A$125 million for MND care and research. The fancy dress slide into an ice pool is now a sporting institution, as are the blue beanies every June. Daniher has been at every one. I can’t imagine how the Big Freeze game will feel on Monday week.

As a speech lover, I’ve marvelled at Daniher’s ability to hold an audience, even as his physical voice has been taken from him. His words are incredible. He brought the mettle of a footy motivator into the world of medical awareness and fundraising. He coached the country in what the disease was, what his disease was, although he never made it about himself. He gave Australians hope that this thing could be beaten, that the causes would be found in his lifetime. He gave thousands and thousands of people hope that the beast could be beaten. Last year he was Australian of the Year, and he received his award with an unforgettable speech, vocalised by computer:

I hope to leave a legacy that says this: no matter the odds, no matter the diagnosis, we all have the power to choose to fight, to choose our attitude, to choose to smile, and to choose to do something. Because the mark of a person isn’t what they say, it’s what they do.

This one from 2017 is a Speakola favourite. It’s a pre-game address to the Melbourne players, the club he coached for 223 games between 1998 and 2007.

12 June 2017, Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia

What drives me, and what drives you, comes from within.

And people like me come and go.

And I can tell you now, in a week’s time, you won’t remember a thing I said.

I can’t remember what I said a year ago, or the year before and neither can you.

But, I hope you remember what I do.

People say to me, and I sort of look at them blankly, they say, ‘why do you do what you do? You got a terminal illness, why don’t you tick off your bucket list, enjoy life, you haven’t got long left. Why do you do this?’ ‘What keeps you resilient? Why do you persevere? Where do you get the resolve from?’

And it all comes back to ... I’m really clear on why.

With ‘Fight MND’, as you see up there, what drives me, is not about me.

That’s not called the ‘Neale Daniher Foundation’.

That’s called ‘Fight MND’.

It’s about others.

The disease will get me, I know, but why I do it is that two or three people will die today, while I’m talking to you. And two or three will die tomorrow. And two or three died yesterday.

And what drives me is ... it’s curable. This is curable.

I can’t accept that like now there’s no treatment or cure.

And that drives me to go - well what can I do?

Mightn’t help me, but what can I do that might make it better for others.

And I think there’s something in that for you guys too. In football, there is an element of self. To get the best out of yourself. There’s an element of that that’s true for everyone. You want to be the best you can be.

And there’s a continuum, if you’re looking at self. Over there is selfish, and over there is selfless, on that line.

And nothing great can get done with selfish people.

Nothing.

So where do you sit on that? To be great together, you have to be over here. Selfless.

And where that sits with you,. you can say whatever you like, but your teammates know, by what you do.

By what you do.

I’m really clear on what drives me. And with that, being resilient, and handling adversity, and having resolve, becomes second nature.

I know I’ll have setbacks, I know I’ll get worse, and people say, why don’t you tick off the bucket list?

Why don’t you go and just do what you want to do. In a sense, be selfish.

That doesn’t give me any meaning or purpose.

That gives me no drive.

What drives me is, how can I help people?

There’s a saying, ‘when it’s all said and done, more is said than done’. And the mark of a person is not what you say, but what you do.

The question I’m going to leave you with is, well what are you going to do? The next time you play, what will you do?

You teammates are not all that interested in what you say, they’re interested in what you’re going to do.

Good luck boys, thank you.

Thank you, Neale Daniher. RIP. The fight goes on.

Tony Wilson
Founder & Curator Speakola

This is the most viewed article on my personal newsletter, Good one, Wilson. Jump on as a free subscriber there. Writing on sport, parenting, Melbourne life.

A present from Grandpa