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About Paul Vander Haar
- Paul Vander Haar (born 7 March 1958) is a former Australian rules footballer who played 201 games with Essendon in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
- Born of Dutch migrants, Vander Haar was educated at Whitefriars College.
- During his playing career his surname was normally spelled as three words: Paul Van Der Haar.Vander Haar was recruited to Essendon from Ringwood in 1977, and was named as the VFL's Recruit of the Year (now known as AFL rising star award).
- He also won the club's 'Best First Year Player' award and was runner up in their 'Best and Fairest'.
- In 1978, his form was negatively affected by neck and back injuries resulting from a trail-bike accident.
- He returned from this serious injury to be one of Essendons star players, achieving State selection and was runner up in Essendon's best and fairest in 1982.
- Due to his strong and spectacular overhead marking ability and ancestry, Vander Haar earned the nickname 'The Flying Dutchman'.
- He usually played as a centre half-forward but was also used in defence.Vander Haar was one of the most important players in the champion Essendon team of the 1980s which played in finals in 8 of 11 years.
- This included grand final appearances in 1983-1985 and back to back premierships in 1984 - 1985.
- In 1985 Vander Haar kicked a career-best 46 goals, 9 of them in a single game in round 21.
- He earned 12 Brownlow Medal votes for the year.
- Out of the Essendon players, this was second only to Tim Watson.
- Despite his goal-scoring feats, he played as a defender in their Grand Final victory that year.
- Vander Haar was runner up (for the 3rd time in his career) in the Essendon best and fairest in 1985.
- He also represented Victoria in 1985.
- Injury again struck early in 1986 when he broke his leg.
- He only managed a total of 10 games in his next two seasons.
- His playing career was hampered further in 1987 and 1988 by numerous injuries.
- In 1989, Essendon finished second on the ladder in the home-and-away season.
- He kicked 5 goals in the winning Qualifying final team against Geelong.
- Vander Haar was back to his best when, in the Second Semi-Final against the reigning premiers Hawthorn, he was knocked out by Hawthorn enforcer Dermott Brereton.
- The concussion was serious enough for Vander Haar to miss the Preliminary Final against Geelong, in which Essendon were thrashed.
- To this day, Vander Haar harbours no ill-feelings towards Brereton, and even built a pool and spa for him a couple of years later.
- "That's the way the game was.
- I was the unfortunate one on the wrong end of it," he said.Vander Haar's final match was the infamous 1990 AFL Grand Final, in which Collingwood ended their 32-year premiership drought and thrashed Essendon by 48 points.
- In Kevin Sheedy's book A touch of Cunning, Sheedy wrote "He (Vander Haar) was one of the most courageous footballers I ever saw".
- Sheedy also wrote "The best four players I coached in the early days were Terry Daniher, Tim Watson, Simon Madden and Paul Vander Haar, in no particular order".
- Since retiring, Vander Haar has followed in his father's footsteps as a tradesman, installing family swimming pools and spas around southern Victoria.Vander Haar's son Todd plays football for Surrey Park, and is a member of the James Hird Academy.In 2002 he was named as one of the top 60 Champions of Essendon.
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