- Category:
- Advocate
About
Well-known AFL legend, Robert ‘Dipper’ DiPierdomenico, played 240 games with the Hawthorn Football Club during his football career. Now a national media personality, Dipper makes regular appearances on Before the Game, Postcards and Dipper’s Backyard BBQ Wars.
After an inauspicious debut with the Hawks back in 1975, the ‘Big Dipper’, as he likes to be known, quickly rose to be best-on-field in the 1978 Grand Final against North Melbourne. He patrolled the wings with flair and ferocity that became folklore at Glenferrie. He was one of football’s great characters of the 80s and one of its fieriest; remembered as much for his trips to the tribunal as for winning the 1986 Brownlow Medal. His determination was underlined in the 1989 Grand Final win over Geelong with a punctured lung, broken ribs and, according to Dipper, two broken legs and malaria.
In 2007, Dipper enjoyed one of his proudest moments when he was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame. Dipper continues to be heavily involved in the AFL as the ambassador for their junior development program, Auskick.
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