Peter Daicos
Encyclopedia
Peter Daicos is a former professional Australian rules football
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

er who played his entire 250 game career with the Collingwood Football Club
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 in the VFL/AFL.

He is one of the greatest players in the history of the Australian Football League, being a member of the AFL Hall of Fame and was renowned for his consistent ability to kick freakish goals from seemingly impossible angles. During his 250 game career his league honours include a premiership, and kicking the Goal of the Year
Goal of the Year (Australia)
The Goal of the Year is a competition for the best goals kicked in the VFL/AFL during that season. It is run in conjunction with the Mark of the Year competition and is currently sponsored by Panasonic. The award is also known as the Phil Manassa Medal....

. He also represented his home state of Victoria
Victoria Australian rules football team
The Victorian Australian rules football team, also known as the Big V is the representative side of Victoria, Australia in the sport of Australian rules football....

 a total of five times.

Daicos is considered to be one of Collingwood's all-time greats, being named in the club's Team of the Century, leading the club's goalkicking for five seasons, winning the best and fairest twice and playing in the club's drought breaking 1990 premiership.

Profile

Peter Daicos is commonly known as the Macedonian Marvel because of his parents' place of origin
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...

 who were both immigrants from the village of Vevi
Vevi
Vevi, rarely Veve is a village located in the municipal unit of Meliti in Florina peripheral unit, Macedonia, Greece. The village is passed by two national roads which lead to Thessaloniki, Florina, Amyntaio, and Kozani...

, near Florina
Florina
Florina is a town and municipality in mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. It is also the Metropolitan seat for the region. It lies in the central part of Florina peripheral unit, of which it is the capital. Florina belongs to the periphery of West...

 in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

He was raised in a family background with local Macedonian Language spoken at home and church services attended on Sundays but with the main difference regarding his interest on Footy
Australian rules football
Australian rules football, officially known as Australian football, also called football, Aussie rules or footy is a sport played between two teams of 22 players on either...

 instead of Soccer, up to playing with the school team whilst at Preston East High School.

Peter debuted with the Collingwood Football Club
Collingwood Football Club
The Collingwood Football Club, nicknamed The Magpies, is an Australian rules football club which plays in the Australian Football League...

 in 1979. He went on to play 250 games (for 549 goals) with the Magpies until his retirement in 1993, and won a premiership with them in 1990 opening the way by kicking Collingwood's first goal in that match.

In the 1990 season, Daicos scored 97 goals playing mostly from full-forward
Full-forward
Full-forward is a position in Australian rules football and Gaelic football with a key focus on kicking goals.Leading full-forwards of the Australian Football League are usually among those awarded with the Coleman Medal for the most goals in an AFL season....

, a feat made all the more remarkable since he was considerably shorter than many full-forwards of the era. His skills in scoring from impossible angles, as well as the ability in getting rid from defenders made pundits to start naming him as The Magician.

In fact, one of his goals, drawing the 1990
1990 AFL season
Results and statistics for the Australian Football League season of 1990.See List of Australian Football League premiers for a complete list.-Ladder:All teams played 22 games during the home and away season, for a total of 154...

 Qualifying Final became the subject of a Toyota Memorable Moments
Toyota Memorable Moments
The Toyota Memorable Moments series is a series of television advertisements produced over several years for the Australian Football League by its major sponsor, Toyota....

 advertisement, first screened in 2005.

In 1999 Daicos was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame
Australian Football Hall of Fame
The Australian Football Hall of Fame was established in 1996, the Centenary year of the Australian Football League, to help recognise the contributions made to the sport of Australian rules football by players, umpires, media personalities, coaches and administrators. It was initially established...

 and in 2002 he was elected in the AFL Greek Team of the Century
Greek Team of the Century
The Greek Team of the Century was a representative team chosen in 2004 in the sport of Australian rules football.Anthony Koutoufides and Peter Daicos were named vice-captains, Lou Richards was captain. The criteria was that any Greek blood whatsoever constituted eligibility for the team...

 reserved for players having full or partial Greek heritage.

Although Peter defines himself as "Macedonian
Aegean Macedonians
Slavic speakers are a linguistic minority population in the northern Greek region of Macedonia who are mostly concentrated in certain parts of the peripheries of West and Central Macedonia, adjacent to the territory of the Republic of Macedonia. A smaller group exists in East Macedonia adjacent to...

" he accepted this distinction "to honour the sacrifices that his parents made".

In 2005 Peter Daicos became coach at a local club called the Greythorn Falcons and in 2006 he coached them to an 80 point win in the Grand Final.

In 2007/08 he launched SportzStats, a hybrid online/offline sports statistics tracking and diary system for junior players in various sports and as of 2009, he is also a weekly guest tipper on the Score Five Footy tipping game.

In 2010 Daicos resumed commentating duties with the AFL Live radio team. Nowadays, his name is used by journalists as an adjective to describe a difficult goal scored from the boundary in play (a 'Daicos goal').

External links

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