Guys just a quick question, did Carl Deitrich play for any other VFL club apart from the Saints? I don't think so but someone I know is arguing that he had a stint with Carlton, surely not. Your input would be most welcome.
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In answer to your question Carl Ditterich originally played for StKilda. In his first game he was best on the ground. Later he played for Melbourne before returning to StKilda. Later he returned to Melbourne again to coach them. Later he went to Gold Coast and lost his money in a property deal.
He was a superstar for the Saints and is a very very nice guy

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Yep to most of this thread, saints then melb. Got suspended for our grand final win.
Took over a pub in Brisbane with his son. It burned down after saints lions game and isn't running or may never run again and has been an empty shell for 6 months. Hotel Broadway.
Now back in swan hill
In answer to your question Carl Ditterich originally played for StKilda. In his first game he was best on the ground. Later he played for Melbourne before returning to StKilda. Later he returned to Melbourne again to coach them. Later he went to Gold Coast and lost his money in a property deal.
He was a superstar for the Saints and is a very very nice guy
He also went close to winning the seat of Swan Hill as an independant in the 1999 State Election, losing by just 1500 votes.
Little known fact that Ditterich was interviewed for the Melbourne coaching job again after Barassi left but they went with John Northey instead. Would have been some sort of record to return to the same club three times.
Here's something from an MFC perspective if anybody is interested http://wiki.fcmelbourne.com.au/Carl+Ditterich
As a young boy I watched Big Carl in his first game in 1963. He was a product of my local junior football club East Brighton Vampires and Brighton High School.
He burst onto the VFL scene like a comet. He was athletic like nobody before him.
In 1972 I suffered a knee injury and consulted the same orthopaedic surgeon that looked after Big Carl (co-incidence only), Owen Deacon (his son Simon played in our ressies) and I'll never forget my first appointment to see Deacon when Big Carl walked out of the room just before my appointment. Deacon remarked that with his knees and ankles he was surprised that Carl could walk, let alone play football.
He played another 8 seasons after that!
He was truly a sight to behold on the football field.
We walked taller when he was playing.
Tough as nails who copped plenty and dished out even more.
A fearful man amongst men, twice took down entire teams by himself, once against Geelong and the other was against Carlton. Bodies lying at his feet, everyone too scared to come near him in the end. Awesome! We won the fights when Big Carl was there.
Jeansie once said that we would have got another flag if we had made the finals I think it was 1975. He had Big Carl, Jeff Sarau, Young, Elliott, Barker I think. Tough players, but it wasn't to be
In all the years I watched him, I only saw him stagger once.
Just before 3 qtr time in the 1971 GF, Porter (I believe) from Hawthorn punched him as he was running past (well off the ball). Carl staggered and even though 3 qtr time was only a few minutes away, he wan't the same for the rest of the game.
I often wondered if he had been 100% if Keddie would have kicked all those goals in the last qtr to 'steal' that falg from us?

So that was it! Bloody Karma always gets you in the end
My main question for many years has been, what part of the StKilda FC's soul was sacrificed for the 1966 flag? Especially when you see teams like Essendon wrack up flags with monotonous regularity, just a bunch of spoiled band wagon nobodies.
Is it possible to edit the heading of this thread so that Big Carl's name is spelled correctly?
There's something not quite right in a Saints legend's name being incorrect on a Saints Fan Forum.

the first collingwood game i ever went to was big carls last game - round 22 1980 at the G - melb v coll. i recall he snotted kevin morris and got many weeks:
