Vale Tim Delaney

By Ken Casellas

Claremont has lost a highly respected club stalwart with the death of Tim Delaney.

He served as a club director for four years — from 1998 to 2001 — and after that he was a hard-working member of Claremont’s Royal Show parking team for several years.

His son Tony Delaney was an outstanding footballer, who was a shining light in the Claremont colts side in 1992 and was captain of the West Australian Teal Cup team that year before being drafted by Essendon as a teenager.

A succession of injuries restricted his AFL career to 76 matches — 15 with Essendon, 28 with the Fremantle Dockers and 33 with St Kilda. It was when he was a Dockers player that he made his WAFL league debut with Claremont as a 21-year-old wingman in a round one contest against Perth at Lathlain Park on April 8, 1996 — and was named as one of his side’s best players.

He has the distinction of being a member of the Fremantle side’s first AFL match, against Richmond at the MCG in 1995. Finally, after retiring as an AFL performer he resumed his WAFL career with the Tigers in 2004 as a powerful hard-running midfielder.

Hamstring problems restricted his appearances to nine in 2004 and 13 the following year, and he retired after 31 WAFL league matches after playing in Claremont’s losing grand final side against South Fremantle on September 18, 2005.