Sean Millane

[Tarkyn_24]

Wondering if anyone else has brought this up before, but I'm wondering why Collingwood didn't snap him up. He, and brother John, were brilliant players, less skilled than Darren, but still very skillful with the ball.

I know that Sean played 11 reserves matches, but the Pies didn't follow him up.

A big disappointment, he was a gun of a kid.

 

[goalpie]

It was Seans choice. Darren regarded Sean as having more talent than him.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

It was Seans choice. Darren regarded as having more talent than him.

Yeah, I'd heard whispers of that too. But was it just that Sean was desperately uncomfortable at the Pies, like Darren was at the Hawks?

 

[mm fan]

Don't think he was up to VFL/AFL standards. Was a good VFA player not a superstar and back in those days if he was good enough for AFL then he would have taken the comp apart. Would have been nice if he did play.

 

[MarkT]

Not good enough. Played VFA for Dandenong from memory.

 

[david_345]

Not good enough. Played VFA for Dandenong from memory.

Think he still plays footy for someone. Was reading an article about him in the paper not long ago. Was talking about how big a loss Darren was and how blaming himself caused him to go through severe depression.

Interesting article, can't remember which paper it was though.

 

[Tarkyn_24]

Think he still plays footy for someone. Was reading an article about him in the paper not long ago. Was talking about how big a loss Darren was and how blaming himself caused him to go through severe depression.

Interesting article, can't remember which paper it was though.

Yeah, it was posted on bigfooty;

 

[Tarkyn_24]

I know i have already posted this in one of the threads but thought i should make it a thread so all can read. And you think life is bad then you read things like this.

A brother's pain

July 31, 2005

Sean Millane's football career is built on a tragic legacy, writes Paul Kennedy.

The emptiness keeps growing,

The hurt and sorrow too.

I look, but you're not with me,

I don't know what to do.
- Sean Millane, 1991, a song for Darren.

On a day when you'd rather cuddle your car heater, Sean Millane fronts his football team in a concrete suburban change room and implores it to win.

Fellas, it's our last chance.

The coach paces back and forth with a limp (knee surgery keeps him off the field) and he talks as he would play: in blunt, powerful bursts. Protect each other. We lose and finals are out.

At age 37, hair black, he looks as strong as he was in his prime. The winters have stolen a touch of his pace but tragedy hasn't pinched his youthfulness.

Just as the sun doubts it will triumph over storm clouds, Millane privately frets his team can't win without him playing.



It is a concern shared at St Paul's East Bentleigh Football Club, in division one of the Southern Football League.

"We'll miss Molly," a watcher whispers.

"Molly" Millane hobbles to the boundary, to stand under apprehension and rain. His gamble to post a small man at full-forward spurns hope. The little fellow kicks three before the ball is weighed down by mud.

Molly urges at the break.

This next bit, fellas. It's our year on the line.

Had Sean Millane played this day, he would have encircled his arm with black electrical tape as he has for the past 14 years.

"It's a trigger point for me," he said. "When you're not travelling that well, I look at it. Y' know. Wake up, you've gotta do something."

His devotion to the memory of his late brother, Collingwood team-of-the-century wingman Darren, who died at age 26 in a car crash in 1991, is remarkable.

These days, onlookers question why Sean wears parallel armbands, unaware his father Bob died three years ago.

Sean began believing in symbolism when he held the ball aloft after Dandenong's 1991 VFA premiership, just as Darren had famously done after Collingwood's triumph the year earlier.

Years later, Sean celebrated playing his 100th game on Darren's birthday, August 9.

Also, his career with Australia Post began on Darren's birthday, long-service entitlements kicking in on the anniversary of his brother's death.

"Everything coincides," Sean said. "It's amazing."

Sean's life is a tribute to Darren. He still lives in Noble Park with his mother Denise, a vibrant woman, who has also aged remarkably well.

Sean sleeps in Darren's old bungalow, with pictures of his idol, Magpie No. 42, on the walls.

"I always wanted to be like Darren."

In mourning, Sean and Denise often visited the Tunnel nightclub, where Darren spent his final hours. The proprietor was a friend, who later named a spot in the downstairs bar "Pants' (Darren's nickname) Corner".

"I went there more because it brought back good memories," Sean said. "I had to grow up a hell of a lot. Countless nights I'd cry myself to sleep. I'd lock myself away and I'd just listen to music and cry myself to sleep.

"It's something you never get over."

A huge crowd attended Darren Millane's funeral in October 1991 and thousands of death notices appeared in newspapers.

Friends worried the Magpie would be remembered more for his staggeringly high alcohol reading (0.32) than his Copeland Trophy. History also credits him for playing the 1990 final series with a broken thumb, a remarkable act of courage.

He has been called the greatest captain the black and white army never had.

Eddie McGuire and Jim Main tried to protect Darren's reputation as a "loveable larrikin" in the book Pants.

It included an interview Millane gave Inside Football, explaining why he so often slept at teammate Craig Kelly's inner-city pad.

"Well, I live in Noble Park and if you have a couple of drinks on a Saturday night, the responsible thing is not to drive home."

Millane's fatal mistake left a younger brother with everlasting shades of regret.

"I was actually supposed to go out (the night Darren died)," Sean said. "I didn't end up going. I should've been there.

"Had I been there, things may have been different and it's something that has played on my mind for many years. Still does at times. When you're down, you think (about it). It might be silly but your mind takes over at times."

Had Darren been alive today he would be turning 40 this year, his charisma perhaps demanding media millions like his pal McGuire.

Sean Millane did not follow his brother into the big league, though he played a handful of Collingwood reserves games in 1987 and some practice matches for the Brisbane Bears in 1991.

"They were looking for another Darren."

He could not produce Darren's speed and vertical leap but had courage and a formidable will.

Sean would later captain Dandenong and was named in its team of the century. When the club folded, he crossed to Frankston and earned enormous respect when he recovered from a knee reconstruction within six months.

Victorian honours, a best and fairest and more than 200 games kept the few that did not warm to his self-confidence a silent minority.

Millane is highly competitive.

Many players would have retired after such a fine state league career (and so many injuries) but Millane went on to coach Seaford in the Mornington Peninsula league. Club officials said his professionalism took the team to a grand final in his first season.

A year later, Millane ran water bottles to the club's successful under-18 team on grand final day. It was a selfless gesture few others would offer. It illustrated how much the game meant to him.

"I've always had a good rapport with young blokes. It really does keep me young. I just turned 37 but don't feel it."

Some spectators taunt Millane, his black armbands giving him up as a sentimentalist, which a few interpret as weakness.

They could not know Darren's death was not the only tragedy haunting Sean. Three years ago his father Bob, a generous but gritty man, committed suicide.

"That was hard," he said. "Dad was what you'd call old school. He gave everything and he got very little back.

"Mum and Dad had split up and I was all Dad had.

"He leant on me and said to me, 'I'm gunna do this and do that.' It was like that for three years."

Bob was depressed and spent time in jail for a cannabis conviction.

"That was minor. He was set up in a sense. It wasn't a good situation."

Bob also had remarried. "And there were troubles there," Sean said.

Sean remembers the months leading to his father's death.

"When it finally happened, we'd just beaten Oakleigh Districts. He'd caught up with a heap of old friends and he was the happiest I'd seen him for ages.

"I remember looking at him, thinking he's gunna get over this and then bang, gone.

"Ultimately, he never did get over Darren."

Sadly, Sean's resolve was tested once more when Denise's mum, his grandmother Gwen Rooke, died days before the Seaford 2000 grand final.

"She lived with us for 10 years and was one of my best mates. When she went, that really got me as well."

Gwen Rooke's father (Sean's great-grandfather) was thought to be a Titanic survivor. He claimed to have drunk two bottles of whisky the night the ship went down, which kept him warm enough to survive a long wait for rescuers. A picture of the ship adorns the Millanes' Noble Park lounge room.

"All (three family deaths) have taken considerable tolls on me but in a sense also made me who I am today. John (his brother who lives in Queensland) and I share a special bond."

Sean's mother is his heroine and best friend. Denise can still be seen at most games Sean plays, as proud as if he were a first-gamer.

AT St Paul's East Bentleigh, the opposition, Clayton, slogs back into the game. Molly's side gallantly hangs on.

A seemingly sleepy umpire wears the coach's contempt.

Open your eyes. Open your eyes.

With three minutes to go, his team is overtaken, its finals' chance shot.

Millane fumes. His surgeon has recommended he retire.

"I'm not comfortable with him saying that," he said. "There's always next week. It keeps me going. I never wanna stop."

In tougher times, he misses his mate Pants.

"We always said we'd play a year together when Darren finished (at Collingwood)."

But he doesn't dwell on it.

"I'll always be Darren's brother and I'm proud of that. But I've made a name for myself and I'm proud of what I've achieved.

"My philosophy in life is, the world turns. It's not gunna stop for me."

Back in the change room, he readdresses his shivering, beaten players, his game's critique as honest as a five-goal wind.

There will be no third consecutive grand final appearance for St Paul's, despite Millane's will.

But there will be training on Monday night.

And I want everyone there.

Those needing assistance can reach Suicide Helpline Victoria on 1300 651 251, Lifeline on 131 114 (both 24-hour lines), SANE on 1800 688 382 or Kids Help Line on 1800 551 800.


This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/realfooty/a...144055338.html

Wow thats really tough to read.

I was just a kid (12 or 13) but I used to chat to Sean, Denise and Bob after games when they'd be waiting for Darren. We'd always have a bit of fun, they'd tell us stories about Darren when he was a kid. Bob would joke that Darren's baby bottle was full of VB (it was funny at the time). They were so proud of their brother and son.

I remember accidently coming across Bob's death notice when it happened. I never knew but it crossed my mind that he may have taken his own life. Sad...very sad.

Darren was my hero as a young PIES fan ( pre crows )
Hard as all **** !!

Thanks for posting that story mate.

Jabso, sticky this thread

Hmm, never got stickied.

 

[Im The Gun]

I played on him in 05 for about half a game and even at his old age he just knew where the ball was going, how to get there, get it and what to do with it.