Article by news.com.au and published on 24th September
IF it hadn’t been for a ship’s detour more than half a century ago, Sydney defender Dane Rampe could be living in the United States today instead of preparing for his first AFL Grand Final for Sydney.
Rampe’s father, Indrek, boarded a ship with his Estonian parents bound for what they thought was the US in the 1950s.
But, somewhere along the line, the ship was diverted to Australia, and the family chose to remain.
That was good news for the Rampes, and it has proven to be good news for the Swans.
“(Dad) came out here when he was very young ... they were immigrants who were planning to go to America, I’m told,” Dane Rampe said this week.
“But the ship took a detour and ended up in Australia, and I ended up at the Swans.”
That means Rampe still has dual passports — European and Australian — which came in handy when he backpacked his way around the world a few years ago after believing his dream of playing AFL football had been dashed.
The kid who grew up in Clovelly, just a few kilometres from the SCG, had come to Melbourne to do a pre-season with the Western Bulldogs, and to play a few seasons with Williamstown, but all of that came to nothing.
“The three years in Melbourne moulded my perspective,” he said. “I came back (to Sydney). I hadn’t been drafted and I had nothing to show for it.”
“I had missed out on a life that a lot of my mates were experiencing, travelling and that sort of thing.”
So Rampe spent some time overseas before returning to Sydney in 2012 where he played a season with his mates at the University of NSW/Eastern Suburbs Bulldogs, winning a premiership and the league best-and-fairest.
That won him the chance to audition for the Swans, and coach John Longmire says an impressive 3km time trial sealed the deal.
“Dane Rampe did training for a week, and because he did a 3km (trial) in under 10 minutes, he got his chance,” Longmire said.
“He was a kid running around in the local leagues and we thought he had enough attributes as an athlete. He hasn’t let us down.”
Rampe, now 24, was taken as a rookie in 2013, and has played 47 of Sydney’s last 49 games.
When the Swans last qualified for a Grand Final in 2012, with a preliminary final win over Collingwood at ANZ Stadium, Rampe was a fan in the crowd.
On Saturday, he will be in the heart of the action at the MCG.
“I’m not feeling nervous; I am just excited by the opportunity,” he said. “Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I would be here now.”
Last Modified on 26/09/2014 14:53
