Granty
23-10-2005, 09:36 AM
http://www.thesundaymail.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5936,17003760%255E2764,00.html
RL: Life after footy in brotherhood
PAUL KENT
23oct05
HIS daughter had just given birth in a hospital down south. As fathers do, he went to visit and meet his new grandchild.
A nurse recognised him and finally said: "There's a football bloke in here."
He walked into the ward where he had been told the footballer was resting, and was hit by all sorts of thoughts and emotions.
He remembered it was a Saturday afternoon and "there should have been a lot more people talking to him".
Instead, Doug McRitchie, a man Ron Coote grew up watching play in the centres of some of the great St George teams, was alone in his hospital bed, blood gathering in the lap of his pyjama pants.
He was dying of a horrible disease, one that would claim him six weeks later.
Coote was struck by the fact nobody was there to talk to him.
When McRitchie reacted so warmly towards him, it reassured Coote that sometimes we just need somebody – and people needed to know that.
It was the moment Coote decided to put out a newsletter.
Not long before, he and several other former players had started the Men Of League, a goodwill group of former players who try to look after their own.
When former Dragons captain-coach Ken Kearney needed a wheelchair after a car accident, they bought him one.
When former Wests and Brisbane player John McLeod called to tell Coote he needed help, Coote explained it was still early days and the Men Of League wasn't exactly flush with funds.
He said he would do what he could.
"I don't need money," McLeod said. "I need somebody to talk to."
Bob McCarthy and Jack Gibson gave him a call.
The Men Of League has slowly grown in its four years. It has a full-time employee in Martin Cook, a patron in former NSW premier John Fahey and there is corporate support.
Regular fundraisers throughout the year, culminate in a Men Of League Ball in grand final week.
The newsletter informs footballers of the hardships faced by former teammates, so they can be there to help.
At the Men Of League Ball, ex-Panther Gary Longhurst got a $12,000 wheelchair to help with the motor neurone disease that is slowly killing him.
In the audience were the widows of former players, surrounded by their husbands' teammates.
Each man's attendance fights the perception that footballers live on easy street once they retire.
Most have degenerative injuries and what money they did earn never stretched too far.
Unlike today, almost all worked full-time jobs while playing and face the same financial and emotional troubles we do.
They move on, but now have the brotherhood.
RL: Life after footy in brotherhood
PAUL KENT
23oct05
HIS daughter had just given birth in a hospital down south. As fathers do, he went to visit and meet his new grandchild.
A nurse recognised him and finally said: "There's a football bloke in here."
He walked into the ward where he had been told the footballer was resting, and was hit by all sorts of thoughts and emotions.
He remembered it was a Saturday afternoon and "there should have been a lot more people talking to him".
Instead, Doug McRitchie, a man Ron Coote grew up watching play in the centres of some of the great St George teams, was alone in his hospital bed, blood gathering in the lap of his pyjama pants.
He was dying of a horrible disease, one that would claim him six weeks later.
Coote was struck by the fact nobody was there to talk to him.
When McRitchie reacted so warmly towards him, it reassured Coote that sometimes we just need somebody – and people needed to know that.
It was the moment Coote decided to put out a newsletter.
Not long before, he and several other former players had started the Men Of League, a goodwill group of former players who try to look after their own.
When former Dragons captain-coach Ken Kearney needed a wheelchair after a car accident, they bought him one.
When former Wests and Brisbane player John McLeod called to tell Coote he needed help, Coote explained it was still early days and the Men Of League wasn't exactly flush with funds.
He said he would do what he could.
"I don't need money," McLeod said. "I need somebody to talk to."
Bob McCarthy and Jack Gibson gave him a call.
The Men Of League has slowly grown in its four years. It has a full-time employee in Martin Cook, a patron in former NSW premier John Fahey and there is corporate support.
Regular fundraisers throughout the year, culminate in a Men Of League Ball in grand final week.
The newsletter informs footballers of the hardships faced by former teammates, so they can be there to help.
At the Men Of League Ball, ex-Panther Gary Longhurst got a $12,000 wheelchair to help with the motor neurone disease that is slowly killing him.
In the audience were the widows of former players, surrounded by their husbands' teammates.
Each man's attendance fights the perception that footballers live on easy street once they retire.
Most have degenerative injuries and what money they did earn never stretched too far.
Unlike today, almost all worked full-time jobs while playing and face the same financial and emotional troubles we do.
They move on, but now have the brotherhood.