Carl Dilena (born 17 March 1967) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er who played with Fitzroy and

North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne Local government ar ...

in the Victorian/Australian Football League (VFL/AFL).

Playing career

Dilena started his career at

South Australian National Football League The South Australian National Football League, or SANFL ( or ''S-A-N-F-L''), is an Australian rules football league based in the Australian state of South Australia. It is also the state's sports governing body, governing body for the sport. ...

(SANFL) club Sturt and was involved in a controversial incident late in the 1988 SANFL season when he was knocked unconscious from a charge by

Russell Johnston David Russell Russell-Johnston, Baron Russell-Johnston (born David Russell Johnston; 28 July 1932 – 27 July 2008), usually known as Russell Johnston, was a leading Scottish Liberal Democrat politician and was the Leader of the Scottish Libera ...

. The

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

captain was suspended for five weeks and as a result missed playing in their premiership winning team. He was selected by Fitzroy with the club's first pick, and third overall, in the

1988 VFL Draft The 1988 VFL draft, held on 9 November 1988, was the third annual national draft held by the Victorian Football League (now known as the Australian Football League). It consisted of a pre-season draft and a national draft. In 1988 there were 112 ...

. After appearing in the first seven rounds of the

1989 VFL season The 1989 VFL season was the 93rd season of the Victorian Football League (VFL), the highest level senior Australian rules football competition and administrative body in Victoria and, by reason of it featuring clubs from New South Wales, Queens ...

, he played just four more games for the rest of the year and another 12 in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

.AFL Tables: Carl Dilena
/ref> North Melbourne then secured Dilena in the 1991 Pre-season draft, with pick 15. He performed well initially and in just his second game for his new club, against

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

, Dilena was influential with 39 disposals, with the next best North Melbourne player having just 20 disposals. In 1992, his final season, Dilena played just twice, but put in another good effort against Adelaide when he kicked a career high four goals.

Executive career

Dilena joined the North Melbourne Football Club board in 2008, and he was CEO from 2013 to 2019. In October 2022, Dilena joined the

St Kilda Football Club The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fro ...

board as Chief Operating Officer. Upon

Simon Lethlean Simon Lethlean (born 17 November 1975) is a former Australian Football League (AFL) football operations manager and the former CEO of the St Kilda Football Club. Career Previously working as a commercial solicitor, Lethlean began working for ...

's departure in January 2024, Dilena became acting CEO. Dilena was formally appointed CEO on 9 May 2024.

Personal life

Dilena was also a talented junior

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er, representing South Australia at the 1981/82 National Under 16 Australian Cricket Championships.S.A.C.A., p. 23.

References

Sources

* South Australian Cricket Association (S.A.C.A.) ''Annual Report 1981-82'', S.A.C.A.: Adelaide. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dilena, Carl 1967 births Australian rules footballers from South Australia Fitzroy Football Club players North Melbourne Football Club players Sturt Football Club players Living people