This morning’s Age brings news of the passing of Fr. Gerard Dowling on 26th November.
He is described in the death notice by a family member as:
“…..an extraordinary man, son, brother, priest, counsellor, radio host…..
His particular relevance for the Footy Almanac is that he wrote and updated a fine history of North Melbourne.
I had the good fortune to meet him briefly, and found him an engaging, amusing football enthusiast. I do recall a profile of him in one of the Melbourne newspapers where he acknowledged his one-eyedness, referring to a particular occasion when he was barracking abusively (probably addressing the umpires, although it may have been an opposition player) when he overheard a spectator say “some say he’s a Catholic priest.” Needless to say that didn’t inhibit his passionate vocal support for the Kangas.
There are some notable tributes to Fr. Dowling online from North Melbourne FC, RSN Sports Radio (formerly 3UZ) where he was a long-standing host of a counselling program and Big Footy among others.
To read a tribute to Fr Dowling from the NMFC click HERE.
To read a tribute to Fr Dowling by RadioInfo click HERE.
To read an article about Fr Dowling from RSN Sports Radio click HERE.
To read a tribute to Fr Dowling from Tobin Brothers click HERE.
To return to our Footy Almanac home page click HERE.
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Kind words for a very decent bloke Peter.
He helped a lot of people who sometimes didn’t have readily available support options.
RIP Gerard Dowling.
RDL
Thanks for this Peter.
He was a good man.
And a good North man!