THE Geelong community is a little bit poorer today following the death of Len Alford.
Alford, who had been unwell for some time, died on Monday night at the age of 85.
Intrinsically linked with the Newtown & Chilwell Football Netball Club, Alford also made significant contributions to the Geelong branch of Parents without Partners, Murgheboluc Cricket Club and St Joseph’s College.
“There are givers, and there are takers in the world, and Lenny was always a giver,” Former Eagles coach and current AFL football operations manager Steve Hocking said.
“He always gave to others, and it’s a real credit him and his family as to how he lived his life.”
Hocking first crossed paths with Alford in 1984 while doing a pre-season with the club during a break from the Cats.
“When I first came to a Geelong as 17, 18-year-old, I found it quite difficult settling in,” he said.
“Kevin Higgins was the coach at Newtown at the time, and I left Geelong across a pre-season and did a pre-season at Newtown and was looking at playing up there.
“That was my first experience of Lenny, and the soup that Lenny used to make up at the club, and the way he used to look after the players.”
Alford’s impact at Elderslie was such that he was inducted as the club’s inaugural Legend in 2018, while the best club person award was named in his honour in the early 1990s after he won it on 14 consecutive occasions.
Former long-serving president and good friend Noel O’Dwyer says no one in the club’s history has had a more significant impact than Alford.
“None. Lenny’s one-of-a-kind,” he said. “It goes across generations.
“His chair’s outside the clubrooms, and kids would come to training with Wagon Wheels and chips for him.
“He’s not going to be in that chair tonight.”
O’Dwyer says the club played a critical role in Alford’s life following his wife Dawn’s death in the late 1960s.
“I asked him why he was so devoted to Newtown, and he said, “when Dawn passed, I probably had a nervous breakdown, but no one knew what they were”,” O’Dwyer recalled.
“He had three little kids under five, and the people of Newtown rallied around him and said, “we’ll look after the kids until you get on your feet”.
“The kids went and lived with different families at Newtown, and Lenny recovered and got back on his feet, and never stopped repaying the club for keeping his family together.”
Three-time Mathieson medallist Matt McMahon had a special bond with Alford, who strapped the Eagles’ captain’s shoulders for nearly every one of his 208 games.
“We both enjoyed that 10 minutes we had together before a game,” McMahon said.
“It’s something he got a lot of enjoyment out of, being around all the boys.
“Even though his health deteriorated in later years, the one thing he still really wanted to do was strap all the boys.
“It shows the type of person he was, where he wanted to help others.”
On top of his honours at Newtown & Chilwell, Alford was the recipient of an Order of Australia Medal in 2014 and was honoured with GFL life membership in 2006.
Only on Monday night he was named as the GFL’s No.1 ticket holder for 2021.
“He was only up at the club last week, and we knew he wasn’t himself,” Newtown & Chilwell president Shaun McWilliam said.
“But, he was still worried about taping the boys’ ankles.
“He’s part of the club that will be sadly missed.”
At St Joseph’s College, he was a trainer for the school’s football and cricket teams for more than 20 years.
“The kids were really fond of him, and so were the staff,” principal Tony Paatsch said.
“He had a remarkable capacity to treat everybody exactly the same and would do anything for any of them.”
Alford is survived by his three children, Glenn, David and Gayle, and their families.
Twitter: @tom_king79
