Carl Ditterich

Carl Robert Ditterich (born 10 October 1945) is a former Australian rules footballer who played for the St Kilda Football Club and Melbourne Football Club in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He also coached Melbourne for two years, as a playing coach.

Ditterich, known as the "Blonde Bombshell", made an impressive debut as a 17-year-old for St Kilda against Melbourne in the opening round of the 1963 VFL season, with his speed, high leaping and endurance noted.

He became a tough ruckman and often appeared at the VFL Tribunal, in particular missing St Kilda's only premiership victory in 1966 through suspension.

In 1973, he transferred to Melbourne under the VFL's short-lived "10-year rule", which allowed players with ten years' service at one club to move to another club without a clearance, before returning to St Kilda in 1976, due to his six-year deal being too expensive for Melbourne to continue.

In 1979 he switched again to Melbourne to become their captain-coach for two years; during this period, the Demons suffered the worst defeat in VFL/AFL history, losing to by 190 points in Round 17, 1979.

After football Ditterich purchased a wheat farm near Swan Hill, Victoria. He coached nearby Woorinen (Mid Murray FL) for two seasons 1983 and 1984. Eighteen years later he coached Boort in the North Central Football League in 2002 and 2003.

Ditterich unsuccessfully stood as an independent candidate for the seat of Swan Hill in the 1999 Victorian state election.

In April 2024, Ditterich was charged with historical child sex offences. The charges were dropped in January 2025.

Statistics

285 199 158 2941 930 3871 1079 2289 0.7 0.6 11.8 3.7 15.5 4.3 11.0