Oh Danny Boy, your heartbroken Sainters will always love you so
THE piper played Oh When The Saints and Danny Boy while heartbroken family, friends and fans said goodbye to Danny Frawley as he was taken for a last lap around St Kilda’s spiritual home at Moorabbin Oval.
About 3000 people gathered at the ground where Frawley played 72 of his 240 games yesterday to give him a final send-off after an emotional 90-minute funeral service at nearby Kingston Town Hall.
Sainters young and old wiped away tears as Frawley’s hearse passed slowly by the guard of honour as the sun set over the club that he will forever be a part of.
Frawley’s wife Anita and daughters Chelsea, Danielle and Keeley walked behind the car that had Saints scarfs hanging out the windows, his coffin draped with a St Kilda flag.
It was a heart-achingly powerful end to a day that was to be endured after Frawley’s death in a single-car accident near Ballarat on September 9 — the day after his 56th birthday.
Dad. Son. Brother. Husband. Champion. Larrikin. Mate. Frawley was a lot of things to a lot of people, but he was universally loved by people whose lives he touched.
That much was clear when the St Kilda legend was farewelled at the funeral service where Garry Lyon, Jason Dunstall, Michael Roberts, Stewart Loewe, Wayne Campbell and Wayne Schwass were among those who spoke fondly of their dear friend.
The emotion-charged gathering was uplifting at times, funny at others, sometimes sad, sometimes downright heartbreaking.
But the love for Frawley was there throughout.
“We were just a team, we were just best friends … we just laughed and had fun,” Anita Frawley said choking back tears in a tribute video put together by renowned AFL filmmaker Peter Dickson that finished the service.
“… We would always hug for a bit too long.
“I just wish that he was here now so that I could give him one of those really awkwardly long hugs.”
Current coaches Damien Hardwick, Brett Ratten, Luke Beveridge and Alastair Clarkson, AFL chief Gillon McLachlan and past greats Jonathan Brown, Mark Ricciuto and Nicky Winmar were among the 800-strong crowd to pack the town hall.
Tony Lockett and Eddie McGuire, famous adversaries in years past, forgot old tensions and shared an embrace.