Richmond is mourning the passing of its long-time Club patron and No. 1 ticket-holder David Mandie, who died this morning aged 93.
Mr Mandie saw his first Richmond game as a five-year-old, in 1923, when he was taken by his mother to see the Tigers play Melbourne at the MCG.
“Richmond won, and my heart had been stolen,” he wrote in the foreword to the Club’s league football centenary celebration book, “Yellow & Black: 100 Years Of Tiger Treasures”, in 2008.
“Admittedly, an impressionable age, I was swept up in the emotion of the event, and can still recall the Tiger passion that danced around me that winter day,” he added.
Mr Mandie was a proud Richmond member for nearly 80 years. His association with the Club, on a more formal level, started in the early 1950s when his family bought the James Richardson’s liquor business in Abbotsford.
Over the years, as the James Richardson company expanded, Mr Mandie employed a host of Richmond players to work there in various capacities - the likes of Barry Richardson, Michael Bowden, Jim Jess, John Northey, Bill Barrot, Graeme Bond, Mark Lee, Michael Green, Dick Clay and Bruce Monteath.
“This is a sad day for the Richmond Football Club. Mr Mandie was an off-field icon of the Club, greatly admired and appreciated for everything he did for his beloved Tigers,” said Richmond’s CEO Brendon Gale.
“He will be sorely missed, but there’s no doubt his enormous legacy at Tigerland will live on forever.
“We extend our deepest sympathy to David’s family and colleagues at the James Richardson organisation.”
David Mandie’s name is synonymous with philanthropy and community service. His contribution to sport, public affairs and social welfare throughout Melbourne is legendary. Countless institutions and organisations have benefited from the generosity of David and the Mandie family.
At Richmond, Mr Mandie was heavily involved in the creation of the Club’s Jack Dyer Foundation, which has led to the major redevelopments that have recently taken place at Punt Road Oval.
When Mr Mandie’s all-time favorite Richmond player, the great Jack Dyer, died in 2003, he assisted in the commissioning and creation of the statue of ‘Captain Blood’ at the Club’s Punt Road headquarters.
Mr Mandie loved the way Jack went about his football . . .
“The Dyer myth has him revered for his toughness and rugged play, but there was much more to Jack than that,” Mr Mandie wrote.
“He had an incredible combination of skills for his time; high marking and handball. And, when his legs gave out and he went to the goalsquare for his final years, he showed how smart he was by kicking plenty of goals . . .
“The day we unveiled that statue (of Jack) was one of my proudest, for it ensured Dyer’s legacy at the Club, and all he stood for, would remain prominent forever.”
Mr Mandie was offered a place on the Club’s Board many times, but preferred to remain in the background, happy to assist the Tigers whenever and wherever he could.
He served as Richmond’s Club patron and No. 1 ticket-holder for decades, and this was a source of immense pride for him.
Another significant achievement in Mr Mandie’s football life came in the 1980s when he was appointed the chairman of a VFL committee that ultimately established the basis for the transformation of the competition into its present AFL national structure.
The final words of the foreword Mr Mandie wrote for the Club’s centenary book, aptly summarise the man’s humility and Tiger passion . . .
“For that is all we as Richmond supporters can do, follow them “. . . in any weather . . .” It should be every supporter’s mantra, no matter what level they follow the Tigers. Since that day as a very young boy, staring out enraptured between MCG bodies, I have known it always has been, and always will be, about the Club.”
The Richmond team will wear black armbands in Sunday’s match against Melbourne at the MCG as a mark of respect for Mr Mandie.
