Sourced from Bigpond Sport
Fitness pioneer George Daldry dies
Sunday, January 01, 2012
George Daldry, a pioneer of fitness training in Australian sport, has died aged 88 in Sydney.
Daldry wasn't a household name, but he forged a reputation as the toughest trainer in the business and has been credited for laying the foundation for physical fitness in rugby league.
Hugely respected by league legends like Jack Gibson, John Raper and Bob Fulton, Daldry toured with the Australian Kangaroos and worked with several Sydney clubs including St George, Eastern Suburbs, Manly and North Sydney.
His expertise wasn't limited to rugby league and he trained the silver medal-winning rowing squad in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico.
'When I coached Easts then Manly from 1979 to 1987, he was my trainer/conditioner and I have no doubt that my sides were the fittest in those times,' Fulton told the Men of League website.
Raper says 'he never expected you to do anything he wouldn't do. I wasn't the only St. George player to benefit from his methods and influence.'
Daldry died peacefully at his home in Randwick on Friday night and a memorial service will be organised for his friends, but a date is yet to be finalised.
His passion and skill for motivating athletes came from Daldry's experiences during the second World War.
Daldry was posted to Singapore and then Malaysia as a 16-year-old in 1938.
He was captured by the Japanese in Malaysia and was sent to the infamous Changi Camp. Daldry was in the first group to be taken to Japan, where he spent three of his four years as a prisoner of war doing hard labour.
'We were on the western side of Japan, not too far from Korea,' Daldry told Men of League a couple of years ago.
'It was bitterly cold in winter with plenty of snow.
'We probably survived these conditions because we were packed in very tightly with only about two feet (61cm) of sleeping space.'