ATHLETIC and skillful Chris Duthy played his early football with the South Broken Hill Football Club.
He was born in Broken Hill on June 19, 1961 and etched out a significant career as a strong marking key defender, who played predominately as a full-back.
At 188 centimetres tall and weighing 83 kilograms, he arrived at the Glenelg Football Club with a strong reputation, having already established himself as an accomplished footballer in the Silver City at senior level.
Duthy made his South Australian National Football League debut in round one of the 1982 campaign – as Glenelg league player number 666 – making his first appearance alongside Jamie Mason and Peter Maynard.
Some of his direct opponents in the 1980s included Rick Davies, Roger Luders, Grenville Deitrich, Neville Roberts and Scott Hodges, all of whom are in the top 20 list of SANFL leading goal kickers in the competition’s nearly 150-year history.
He quickly proved himself among such company during this golden era of South Australian state league football when it was at its toughest and most brutal.
He was a bonified league footballer at Glenelg by the time he was recruited to the VFL, having played in the key full-back role in the club’s first back-to-back 1985 and 1986 premiership teams.
These were the third and fourth flags in the Tigers’ history.
In the early years of the VFL/AFL draft he was selected by the now defunct Fitzroy Lions with the 37th pick overall of the inaugural 1986 Draft.
Duthy played for the first three rounds of the 1987 VFL season but was unable to play any more games for the club due to injury.
His first VFL game was against Melbourne at the MCG, a loss, but they were followed by wins over St Kilda and North Melbourne.
He returned to the Bays and continued his career in the SANFL in 1988, struggling for a time with injury.
Duthy made his 200th league appearance for Glenelg in the 1992 preliminary final win.
The following week he played in his final game for the Tigers, a fifth grand final for Glenelg.
Having played in five SANFL grand finals, he still finished with a 40 per cent winning record, losing in his rookie year (1982), 1990 and his final season of 1992.
“Chris was a strongly-built player who made his name as a close-checking, disciplined full-back, who was never easy to score goals against,” Peter Cornwall, Glenelg historian, author and four-decade sports journalist, explained.
He was inducted alongside premiership teammates Peter Carey, Tony Symonds, Tony Hall, Stephen Kernahan, David Marshall and Chris McDermott into the Glenelg Hall of Fame.
In 1988, Duthy acquire his builder’s license and won a strong reputation building quality additions and renovations.
By 1992, Duthy Homes, with its reputation for attention to detail, became the builder of choice for many wanting a custom built home.
He has won a string of trophies and accolades in his chosen field.
Duthy, along with Sturt’s Colin Casey, are the only two Broken Hill footballers since World War II to have won a pair of SANFL flags.
