IT was an emotional day for many at Assumption College on Thursday morning as Neale Daniher and his army of FightMND volunteers made the trek as part of the Daniher’s Drive campaign tackling motor neurone disease (MND).
The drive, the ninth edition, sees the FightMND team participate in a road trip around regional Victoria, and has grown into one of the biggest regional fundraisers in Australia.
Starting from the Heidelberg Golf Club in Lower Plenty, participants arrived at Assumption College with school students, staff, and an emotional reunion of the class of 1978 waiting for Mr Daniher and the team.
The convoy also included some of Mr Daniher’s illustrious players from his tenure as Melbourne Football Club coach from 1998 to 2007, including club captain David Neitz, Guy Rigoni and Clint Bizzell.
It was also the first time Mr Daniher had seen the facilities that bears his name, the Neale Daniher Community and Sports Pavilion.
From there, a gathering of multiple teams allowed for fun and games in the form of a remote control race, where teams raced blindfolded throughout the first half of the race, before turning around and reaching the finish line on the Carroll Oval.
It was here that the FightMND team took the victory.
The students then heard from Mr Daniher about his experiences with the school and MND, hoping to leave the students inspired from his story.
Bec Daniher, daughter of Neale and spokesperson for the FightMND project, said returning to Neale’s roots was an incredible feeling.
“It’s amazing to see the Neale Daniher Pavilion. This school was so important to who dad is today, and he learned so much at this school and the community. It’s great to come back and see the whole school rally behind it,” she said.
Ms Daniher said winning the remote-control race was also a highlight.
“We did a racing game with remote control cars, it did test the honesty, but we got through it,” she said.
“We keep seeing the disappointment on Neale’s face when we lose against primary school kids, but now we got one.”
Seeing Mr Daniher’s former coach, Ray Carroll, was also a highlight of the day.
“Ray Carroll feels like one of the family. I think that would be the case for so many people that went through Assumption. He’s such a leader. Neale was looking forward to seeing Ray,” Ms Daniher said.
Mr Neitz said Mr Daniher was an inspiration to the community.
“Neale has been our leader for a group of guys throughout our era, but he’s still our leader and we have a group of guys that come every year, and we get behind him as everyone does in the whole FightMND army, and we support as much as we can,” he said.
“The support, that not only Kilmore, but the whole of Victoria and Australia has shown, has been immense.”
Mr Neitz also praised Assumption’s students during the race.
“I think the values they teach the kids here is better than than the values I was taught growing up. There might have been some bending of the rules to win the race, but the kids were very honest. It’s great to see the whole school come out for it,” he said.
Daniher’s Drive finished at Marysville for night one, before departing for San Remo on Friday and finishing at Torquay on Saturday.
