Eduard Herbert Melai (28 February 1941 – 28 April 2004) 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 Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

er most notable for his career with the

Dandenong Football Club The Dandenong Football Club, nicknamed the Redlegs, was an Australian rules football club based in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong, Victoria, Dandenong. The club competed in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) from 1958 until 1994. Histo ...

in the

Victorian Football Association The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

during the 1960s and 1970s. Melai played fifty games with reserves in the

Victorian Football League The Victorian Football League (VFL) is an Australian rules football competition in Australia operated by the Australian Football League (AFL) as a second-tier, regional, semi-professional competition. It includes teams from clubs based in east ...

during the early 1960s, and was part of Geelong's 1963 reserves premiership team, but he did not play a senior game for the club. He was cleared to , and played seven senior matches there during the 1964 season. In 1965, Melai crossed to

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 m ...

in the

without a clearance. It was a historic transfer, as he was the first player to make the switch from the VFL to the VFA without a clearance after the VFA had terminated its transfer agreement with the VFL in April that year – a consequence of the bitter deterioration in relations between the two competitions following North Melbourne's relocation to Coburg. Melai became the mainstay ruckman of the Dandenong team over the next decade, a successful time which saw Melai win premierships in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

– notably knocking umpire David Jackson unconscious in an accidental collision during the controversial Grand Final – and

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, and he played off in a further three Grand Finals in 1969, 1972 and 1975. Melai retired from the VFA in June 1976, after having played 202 games for the Redlegs. After retiring from playing with the club, he stayed on with Dandenong as a runner, and was suspended for six weeks after the 1976 Grand Final for using abusive language during the brawls for which that game became infamous. Melai continued to play football at suburban level until 1979. In the early 1990s, he served as a runner and team manager for 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 ...

. Melai died at age 63 after suffering a stroke in April 2004. Later that year he was named as the ruckman of Dandenong's Team of the Century.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Melai, Eddie 1941 births 2004 deaths VFL/AFL players born outside Australia Dandenong Football Club players Sydney Swans players East Geelong Football Club players Australian rules footballers from Victoria (state)