Melbourne’s Springvale Botanical Cemetery was packed with Hawthorn, Collingwood, Richmond, St Kilda and Carlton supporters, but everyone who knew the words was in full voice as the Sydney Swans’ club song rung throughout the city’s south-east at the late-January funeral.
So enormously loved was “religious” 60-year-old Swans fan Daryl Adams, whose life was tragically cut short when a truck cannoned into the rear of his bike at full steam on Thursday, January 17, 2019.
Witnessing Adelaide’s Tour Down Under live had long sat high on the bucket lists of Adams and best mate Peter Little, and on the Tuesday of the darkest of weeks they set out to tick off the treasured item.
They had caught a train from Melbourne to Warrnambool in Victoria’s south-west and would then begin the 600-kilometre pedal to Adelaide, but 50 kilometres north of Kingston SE in South Australia – roughly 380 kilometres into the ride – was as far as Adams made it.
Massive Swans fan Daryl Adams as daylight fades in Kingston SE. He would die the following morning after being hit by a truck on his bike.
His black Trek Domane was at one moment flying down the Princes Highway.
The next, his bike was ripped in two and a cherished life lost, Adams leaving behind a wife and two sons, an elderly mother, three sisters, one brother and his great mate Little.
The full-blooded commitment at the funeral to the Swans’ club song painted a strikingly clear picture of just how admired he was, but Little would again pay tribute in a chat with Swans Media.
“He was one of those people who could just talk the leg off a chair. He could talk to anyone. He was extroverted in the nicest possible way,” Little said.
“We could roll into town on our bikes thoroughly exhausted, but he’d be ready for a conversation. He’d be ready to chat to whoever wanted to chat – and that’s what attracted him to cycling. When you cycle, and you roll into town, shopkeepers and pedestrians seem to be happy to strike up a conversation with you. And Daryl was one of those guys who was able to strike up a conversation with anyone.
“Some people just have that knack of being really well liked – and Daryl was one of them.
“If you ever had a problem he’d drop everything to help you out – and I mean how good is that!
“He was someone you could invite to a gathering and know he’d get some conversations going. A room full of strangers when Daryl was around wasn’t full of strangers for long.”
Little’s world crashed before his eyes around 8am on Thursday, January 17, with a police car tearing past him on his bike, rubber burning on the tarmac as the vehicle spun around, and the cop signalling for him to pull over before delivering the heart-wrenching news.
Little’s first thought was an accident had occurred ahead, and when the policewoman asked if he was riding with anyone before telling him Adams – who had dropped about a kilometre behind him – had been “knocked off his bike”, he presumed he was in hospital and was cross he had “ruined the ride”.
But the policewoman then murmured four words that would strike at the core: “And he’s now deceased.”
“Sudden death is pretty hard to take,” Little said.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s life-changing. You’re around someone all the time and then you’re not.
“His family were beside themselves. They were devastated.
“Trying to sleep that night was bizarre. You’re trying to get to sleep but all you can think of is the day’s events. You can only imagine it’s how astronauts feel when they’re taking off to the moon. How the hell can you nod off for a snooze with that running through your mind?”
More than 300 people piled into Springvale Botanical Cemetery to farewell a man remembered as one in a million.
Two weeks later, on Saturday, February 16, those closest to the IT specialist again turned out in force for the first of two memorial rides.
More than 100 people met at Rapha Cycling Club in Melbourne’s CBD for a 25-kilometre ride in honour of Adams, with family, friends, colleagues and cycling enthusiasts stopping to pay their respects at his childhood home, primary school and the Melbourne home of the Swans, Lakeside Stadium.
It was at the Albert Park venue the club presented Little – on behalf of Adams’ family – with Swans caps and scarves, a footy signed by the entire squad and a card.
Chris Gregoriades from the Swans' Melbourne office presents Peter Little - on behalf of Daryl Adams' family - with a footy signed by the entire squad in front of the Bob Skilton sculpture.
On Easter Sunday, April 21, Lycra will again light up the streets for the Daryl Adams Memorial Ghost Bike Ride in South Australia’s Kingston SE, meaning the Brighton East resident will have been farewelled in both his home state and the state he breathed his final breath.
Hardly a breath was spared as numbers in their hundreds strained their vocal chords at Adams’ funeral in a beautiful rendition of the Swans’ club song:
Cheer, cheer the red and the white,
Honour the name by day and by night …
“It was moving,” Little said.
“Everyone – it didn’t matter who we supported – absolutely belted out the Swans’ club song for Daryl. Everyone who knew the lyrics sang along and everyone else were completely in tune with the moment. It was such a proud experience.”
Seeing fans of opposing clubs – the Swans, Hawks, Magpies, Tigers and so on – singing from the same hymn sheet is a rare sight.
But that is – literally – what Springvale Botanical Cemetery played host to in remembrance of Daryl Adams.
For he was one mightily good bloke.
