WEBVTT - #6 - Eddie McGuire 0:00:06.360 --> 0:00:08.720 Good everyone, Welcome back to The Mason Cox Show. Now 0:00:08.760 --> 0:00:11.800 today we've got a special guest, a man that I'm 0:00:11.920 --> 0:00:14.480 very close with. He's one of the he's known as 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.639 the man that is everywhere. He is one of the 0:00:16.680 --> 0:00:19.520 most iconic people I feel like of Melbourne and of 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:21.880 the country. He's known. First time I ever met him, 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:23.520 I think he was I thought he was a regius 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:25.640 filming of Australia. I was kind of confused on who 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:27.200 he was, and so I saw him on the back 0:00:27.200 --> 0:00:28.800 of a taxi and I thought, oh, this guy's pretty 0:00:28.800 --> 0:00:30.920 big deal, I'd say, But he's a game show host, 0:00:30.960 --> 0:00:33.080 he's a member of the Order of Australia, he's an 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.280 honorary doctorate from r MIT, Sale of the Century winner, 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:39.440 former CEO of Channel nine, a journalist and AFL commentator, 0:00:39.479 --> 0:00:40.800 and I could go on and on and on about 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.120 all the different things he's done. But he is one 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:46.240 of the most probably influential people in my life. I'd say, 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.280 coming to Australia and it's so great to have you 0:00:49.320 --> 0:00:52.040 on The Man in the myth Legend Eddie McGuire show. 0:00:52.120 --> 0:00:54.280 Good to see that, Thanks so much for coming on. 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:56.920 Interviewing football is not the other way around. 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.080 I know this is I've been nervous here and usually 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:00.480 you're the one on the other side the mic, so 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.680 I'm going to have to really take control of this conversation. 0:01:02.800 --> 0:01:05.920 But I find it amazing because you've got such an 0:01:05.920 --> 0:01:08.039 amazing story and I think a lot of people gravitate you. 0:01:08.040 --> 0:01:10.600 You to you because you've come from broad Meadows and 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:13.200 you've been able to create a career of yourself, and 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:15.240 it's come through a lot of hard work, a lot 0:01:15.240 --> 0:01:17.280 of dedication. I think you're probably the hardest working person 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:19.399 I've ever met in my life. You're constantly on the go, 0:01:19.440 --> 0:01:22.280 You're constantly doing something. So I know, this whole interview, 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:23.920 I want to say thank you for taking the time 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:26.120 to come out and do this. It's amazing to have 0:01:26.160 --> 0:01:28.560 you on and something like I said, I think a 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:30.360 lot of people gravitate to you, and you've got some 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.440 amazing stories that we're going to go through on this podcast. 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:34.800 Well, you know, in a lot of ways, Mason, what 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.160 you said there is what I'd like to be doing now, 0:01:37.200 --> 0:01:39.759 which I am doing even through our business at GMTV, 0:01:39.880 --> 0:01:42.440 and that is over the journey. Over my journey, so 0:01:42.480 --> 0:01:45.319 many people have given me a hand up. You always 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:48.760 hear about the discrimination against people. I've always found that 0:01:49.240 --> 0:01:51.840 coming from broad Meadows, if you had a bit of go, 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:55.400 people go, jeez, that's pretty good. Yeah, this kid's got 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:56.960 a bit of go about him. Well, they would never 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:59.960 know where you're from. I just found over the journeys 0:02:00.120 --> 0:02:04.160 so many people gave me a leg up. Not one 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.120 of them going buy me a car. And I think 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.640 they just gave you a chance, or they let you 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:11.200 not even they didn't have to be that. They might 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.239 just say hello to you, you know. I remember the 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.839 first time Bobby Rose introduced me to someone, he said, 0:02:15.840 --> 0:02:17.799 he's one of us. He's a great Collingwood man. It 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:19.919 was one of the proudest moments of my life that 0:02:19.960 --> 0:02:23.360 Bob Rose anointed me a Collingwood person. I mean, the 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:25.639 club met so much to me as a kid coming through. 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.440 But people like Lindsay Fox, who was the Sin Kilda 0:02:28.480 --> 0:02:30.360 president back in those days, and I remember ringing him 0:02:30.400 --> 0:02:32.600 up one Sunday morning something had happened down at the 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.679 Saint Kilda Social Club, which was a regular account. Yeah, 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.120 I can tell you I was either most of them 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.200 or a reporter on the rest of them. But and 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:44.480 then after that Foxy has looked after me. We became 0:02:44.560 --> 0:02:47.720 close friends. I'm going on his eighty fifth birthday cruise. 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:52.840 The family are close family friends of ours. And Foxy 0:02:53.160 --> 0:02:56.440 has a great line he says, to have a friend, 0:02:56.480 --> 0:02:58.640 you have to be a friend, and I've always been 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.000 conscious of that along the any that you have to 0:03:01.000 --> 0:03:03.760 give yourself to people as well. So as my time 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.880 has come around, you know, I looked at what I 0:03:06.880 --> 0:03:10.040 was doing with Collingwood. I really saw that as my 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:13.000 way of giving back to the community without getting into politics, 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:16.760 So you know, putting in the housing for the homeless 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:18.520 and things like that. That was part of what we 0:03:18.560 --> 0:03:20.639 need to do. It couldn't just be about trying to 0:03:20.639 --> 0:03:22.960 win the premiership. Of course, that's the thinking about it 0:03:23.000 --> 0:03:25.320 all the time, but it needed to be something bigger 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.520 than that. And the saying that we sort of had 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:29.280 a colling Wood is if you didn't stand for something, 0:03:29.320 --> 0:03:31.520 you stood for nothing. So that was sort of the 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:33.640 ethos we wanted to bring back to the club that 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:35.680 maybe had missed for a while, but was really what 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:36.560 the club was based on. 0:03:36.600 --> 0:03:37.760 I've got to ask you this, as you brought the 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:39.120 club already and I was going to bring this at 0:03:39.160 --> 0:03:41.040 the end of the podcast, we'll bring it forward. Is 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:43.120 it true that you became a colling fan because the 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:44.920 Collingwood theme song was on the back of a packet 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:46.960 of chips? Is that story actually true? I've got a 0:03:46.960 --> 0:03:48.880 bit of dirt on you. We're good mates. 0:03:48.920 --> 0:03:56.120 I sort of right there, number class enough. It was 0:03:56.160 --> 0:04:00.920 a doughnut bag. But what happened was in nineteen seventy 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:02.560 I was from Great Prep. I was five years of 0:04:02.600 --> 0:04:07.080 age and I idolized my brother and clearly my dad 0:04:07.120 --> 0:04:09.760 who because we lived in broad Meadows, the closest team 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.880 was Essendon basically, although were in North Melbourne zone, but 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.400 they were no good at the time, and if I 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:15.720 was on the other side of the fence, I would 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.440 have been in Carlton's zone. So there I asn't and 0:04:20.520 --> 0:04:23.920 so I idalized like I carried my brother's bag. He 0:04:24.040 --> 0:04:25.880 was everything to me. So I don't even I still 0:04:25.880 --> 0:04:29.080 don't even realize how I turned. But what happened was 0:04:29.560 --> 0:04:32.320 I fell in love with Petty McKenna nineteen seventy the price, 0:04:32.400 --> 0:04:33.719 you know, he should have won the premiership. We were 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:35.880 right in there going well. McKenna kicked one hundred goals 0:04:36.120 --> 0:04:38.680 and every time you turned on the TV in nineteen seventy, 0:04:38.839 --> 0:04:41.880 the football you saw Collingwood was basically in the replay 0:04:41.880 --> 0:04:44.039 every week. There was no live games in those days 0:04:44.600 --> 0:04:46.640 world of sport. I remember sitting there and finding out 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:48.880 for the first time that Lou Richards played for Collingwood, 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:52.440 that he was a Premiership captain, and that was like 0:04:52.520 --> 0:04:55.160 Hollywood had come to broad Meadows. If you liked that, 0:04:55.200 --> 0:04:57.960 Lou was Wow, Lou Richards, you know, and all that 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:00.560 sort of Anyway, this particular day, Frank, my brother, was 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.280 in there. Dad come back, you know, all the come 0:05:04.320 --> 0:05:06.440 back to and all that. And I was walking back 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:10.040 from lunchtime from school and there was a Jiffy donut 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.520 bag that used to have the Jiffy donuts right the 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:15.640 gym donuts, and it used to have the theme songs 0:05:15.680 --> 0:05:18.800 on the back. And I saw the paper about twenty 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:21.680 meters from home as I came around the corner, and 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.240 I said to myself, all right, this is a sign. Now, 0:05:24.360 --> 0:05:27.200 remember I'm five. This is sort of points to how 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.400 mad I was even back then. And I said, if 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.200 this has got the Collingwood theme sign it, I'll take 0:05:32.200 --> 0:05:34.480 it as a sign. And that's it. And I opened 0:05:34.480 --> 0:05:37.880 and I'm sure enough universes talking about the universe was 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.320 talking to me, and that was my moment. And then 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:43.120 Frank came home a couple of weeks later and he 0:05:43.160 --> 0:05:45.480 said it was he nearly fell over because Dad had 0:05:45.480 --> 0:05:47.599 bought me a Collingwood jumper. A moment, so number six 0:05:47.640 --> 0:05:47.920 on it. 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.479 That was it? That was that your sould from that day. Well, 0:05:50.560 --> 0:05:52.080 I want to ask you this to start off, I 0:05:52.080 --> 0:05:55.479 know you as a person. I find you amazing whenever 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.359 I see you work a room. I know you do 0:05:57.360 --> 0:05:59.120 a lot of hosting, You've done some amazing things for 0:05:59.160 --> 0:06:01.839 bush fire relief victims everything else. And I see you 0:06:01.880 --> 0:06:04.760 work a room and it's it's something that's a talent 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:07.120 that not many people have. Now, I want to get 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:09.400 some advice from you, right, So let's say someone's listening 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:11.039 and they want to get a bit of advice on 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.640 maybe let's say this, how is there any tricks you 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:15.800 use to remember someone's name? Because I feel like you're 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:17.440 really good at this, so you can really like work 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:18.680 and remember everyone that's day. 0:06:19.080 --> 0:06:20.839 The first trick is I don't think about it. To 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:22.440 be honest, I don't go on to go I have 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.400 to work a round people talk about networking and contacts 0:06:25.400 --> 0:06:28.320 and things like that. If you're trying to do that, 0:06:28.839 --> 0:06:32.479 I find it's pretty awkward. And that goes back to 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.760 probably being a journalist from such a young age when 0:06:35.760 --> 0:06:39.000 you're third and fourteen year to actually introduce yourself, have 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:42.400 a connection with people, and you always remember their stories, 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:44.760 and so there's always that part of it. I'm finding 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:48.880 these days. I realized that up until about five years ago, 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.480 I had really good eyesight, and so that would give 0:06:52.480 --> 0:06:54.520 me the chance. So I'd see people from right across 0:06:54.520 --> 0:06:57.240 the room and look at them, pick them, see who 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.000 they work out the connection to them, and i'd be right. 0:07:00.360 --> 0:07:04.800 These days they are almost upon me put the goggles on, 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:06.720 so it's not as good as it used to be. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:10.720 But it's about being interested in people and knowing everyone's 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.440 journey or their connection, and you know, without pumping the 0:07:15.480 --> 0:07:19.800 tires up. I genuinely liked meeting people, not what they 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:22.040 can do for me. I liked their stories. And I 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.320 suppose going back to being a journalist, you're always looking 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.800 for the story, as opposed to these days you see 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.480 a lot of stories on television and the newspapers and 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:33.680 they're really just phil everyone's got a story if you 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:35.840 kick the rock over a little bit and find out 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:38.480 what's there. So from there I was able to do that, 0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:42.160 and I genuinely was and continue to be an enthusiast. 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.920 I look forward rather than backwards, and so from that 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.000 point of view, every time you walk in the room, 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:50.920 it's full of possibilities for a bit of fun. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.120 Yeah, exactly. I think there's a great quote. Someone said 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.040 it was be interested not interesting. 0:07:55.200 --> 0:07:55.440 Yeah. 0:07:55.760 --> 0:07:56.920 I feel like that's very much of it. 0:07:57.720 --> 0:08:00.680 That's the quote. That's the short line to a long answer. 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:04.400 So well done. You've edited me beautifully. Yeah. But then 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:07.280 when you know, when you are things that at Collingwoo, 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:09.680 for example, when I was president, and you know, part 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:11.960 of what you need to do is make people feel 0:08:11.960 --> 0:08:13.960 special as well. I feel the president of the club. 0:08:14.320 --> 0:08:16.679 You know, at the president's lunch, I would go around 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.840 every table because they bought a table to beat the 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.040 president's lunch. And part of the thing I know is 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.160 that they wouldn't have come to see the footy. But too, 0:08:23.480 --> 0:08:25.360 you know, I was entertained and I was a well 0:08:25.400 --> 0:08:27.800 known president, and your celebrity and all that type of thing. 0:08:27.880 --> 0:08:30.080 So you go around to these people and you have 0:08:30.160 --> 0:08:32.120 a bit of interaction and they want to have a 0:08:32.120 --> 0:08:35.360 photo with you and it makes their day. That's what 0:08:35.400 --> 0:08:37.840 my job is as president of Collingwood. Part of what 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.679 I brought to that job was my celebrity. You know, 0:08:41.760 --> 0:08:45.160 people like Jeff Kennett brings his political acumen, Jeff Brown 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:48.360 now the president of collin brings his business acumen and 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.800 and his connection to the club. You've got everyone's got 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:54.400 to play there, get their role and my role is 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.199 was was exactly that it was. You know, when you're 0:08:57.200 --> 0:08:59.400 hosting functions, don't just get up and give a speech 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:01.800 and find out what's going on. And then you know, 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.719 inevitably I'd find out this blokeerus, you know, wants to 0:09:04.720 --> 0:09:06.160 be a sponsor of the club. I've brought him on. 0:09:06.200 --> 0:09:09.040 I'm not give your name, thank you, close that deal 0:09:09.160 --> 0:09:10.080 and anywhere you go. 0:09:10.280 --> 0:09:12.000 It's one of those things. I feel like, that's something 0:09:12.040 --> 0:09:14.160 I've realized, I guess in my time here, is that 0:09:14.360 --> 0:09:16.400 like the littlest of things, he makes someone's day, or 0:09:16.440 --> 0:09:18.280 make someone's weak even in like month or year, and 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:20.560 they'll talk about it for you like I'll meet someone again, 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:22.200 you know two years down the road and be like oh, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.040 I took a photo with you this time doing that, 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.199 you know, and I was like, yeah, yeah, of course 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:28.040 I'll take a million photos made bike. It is so 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:28.880 cool to see that you. 0:09:30.200 --> 0:09:31.400 Just give a bit of yourself. I think one of 0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:35.400 the great things about Australia is and particularly Melbourne, particularly Melbourne, 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.079 is the access to everybody. So true, you know, so 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:40.040 I don't worry about peperazzi. You don't have pepperitis in 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:42.920 Melbourne because there's no need. You see us every week, 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.520 you know, we are everywhere Whereas in the States, I 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.720 always found even going to the super Bowl, you go 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:51.560 into one of the top hotels and they say, oh, 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:53.800 you're here, what are you for it? Super Bowl? Oh 0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.520 the parties, Yeah, you're not going at you Yeah, and 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.840 they go you're going to the super Bowl. Whereas where 0:10:00.880 --> 0:10:03.640 we're sitting, I think this has been this place had 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:05.040 a major impact on my life. 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.760 Let's give it people listening in and watching. We're at 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.360 the MCG Iconic in CG. So there is my office actually. 0:10:11.080 --> 0:10:14.880 Exactly in a box at the MCG. But what I've 0:10:14.880 --> 0:10:17.640 always found, even the difference between Melbourne and Sydney is 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:22.000 that all our major events are open to everybody. There's 0:10:22.000 --> 0:10:25.400 one hundred thousand seats in this place. Now, maybe the 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:29.560 Grand Final, maybe the occasional Landsac Day you might struggle 0:10:29.559 --> 0:10:32.000 to get a seat, okay, but every other thing you 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:35.440 can go to. So as a little boy we would 0:10:35.440 --> 0:10:36.920 come here. I'd sit over there on half food front 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.120 when Peta mckinna kick nine against Richmond one day. I 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.360 was here in the old stand in seventy two when 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.280 we've got bet in the Pulminary Final Life, having led 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:46.960 by forty two points at halftime. You know, I stood 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.640 over there for the first Anzac Day game between Collingwood 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.000 and Richmond, right on send a wing under the old 0:10:52.040 --> 0:10:54.400 clock when it was they reckoned. It was ninety thousand. 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:56.640 It was about one hundred and ten thousand. In this particular. 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:59.840 I sat over there for the first Collingwood Essendon all 0:10:59.840 --> 0:11:02.960 the things I called, the Grand Finals, everything, but not 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:04.600 only that, but I was over here as a kid 0:11:04.760 --> 0:11:08.000 on the Centenary Test, the day when David Hooks hit 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:11.480 hit all the boundaries and Rick ma Cosca came back 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:13.760 unto the ground I see. For the Commonwealth Games, I 0:11:13.800 --> 0:11:16.440 sat over there as an in grade one when the 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.520 Pope was here, so all these things happen. You go 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.200 to the Melbourne Cup, there's one hundred thousand people get 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:24.520 into Flemington for the four days of the carnival. You 0:11:24.559 --> 0:11:26.760 go to Moomber, which everyone sort of laughs at. But 0:11:26.800 --> 0:11:28.560 if you're a kid out in the Housing Commission house 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:31.880 in broad Meadows, member was massive. You know. My dad 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:34.160 was smart. It was Scottish, so he's tight right, and 0:11:34.200 --> 0:11:37.680 he worked out that if you stood opposite the town hall, 0:11:38.200 --> 0:11:40.760 that's where all the performances happened. Because all the vps 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.760 are sitting in the town hall, We're sitting on the 0:11:42.760 --> 0:11:45.480 other side of the road and in the sunshine. We 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:47.480 thought this was better because they sitting in the shade, 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.280 which is a bit like here you had the MCG. 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.120 We used to sit in the southern stand in the 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:53.679 old days and we thought this is great as we 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.880 all the noises and it's so vibrant, the members are 0:11:56.880 --> 0:11:59.040 so boring and they're in the cold, you know, and 0:11:59.480 --> 0:12:01.959 so whatever. Whenever he sat, it was my dad and 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:03.680 I said, you know this, this is the best place 0:12:03.720 --> 0:12:07.000 we could be. And that was our whole enthusiasm for Australia. 0:12:07.120 --> 0:12:09.280 You know, I lived in broadma That may as well 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:11.559 have been Beverly Hills compared to women Dad came from 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.760 and my mom. So each generation gets its go and 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.080 he just he and Mom just drilled into us that 0:12:18.160 --> 0:12:19.760 this was the greatest place on earth and if you 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:22.280 had any amount of ability or get up and go, 0:12:22.679 --> 0:12:23.840 this was the place to do it. 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:30.720 Is it true you hit a hard trick on this, Well, it. 0:12:31.040 --> 0:12:32.840 Was a hat trick and I took two wickets, and 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:35.400 then it was a media game and Kevin Bartlett was 0:12:35.440 --> 0:12:38.640 actually facing up and I was being an idiot mucking around. 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.439 So I actually went through the fence up into the 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.880 back of the stand to start my running. But I 0:12:44.960 --> 0:12:47.240 got true morpht and I got David Hooks. Yeah, I 0:12:48.240 --> 0:12:50.240 got Hooks. You tried to try to put me over 0:12:50.280 --> 0:12:52.120 the out of the stand and he said he got 0:12:52.120 --> 0:12:54.840 caught on the boundary line. But he said he said it. 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:57.640 I said, I sucked you in here. That was great, 0:12:57.720 --> 0:12:59.360 He on the on the m c G. 0:12:59.600 --> 0:13:02.040 Yeah, you you've got an amazing amount of memories here, mate. 0:13:02.080 --> 0:13:03.560 I know you've been here and you've been part of 0:13:03.559 --> 0:13:06.120 this this building and this structure and this coliseum that 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:08.640 is and you definitely make it up. But we'll go 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.800 back to a bit of I guess your origins really 0:13:12.160 --> 0:13:15.520 you talked about your parents were immigrants back from Scotland 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:17.400 and Scotland. 0:13:17.080 --> 0:13:20.160 My dad Scottish Mom. I like a drink as long 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:20.960 as it's free. 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:22.960 Yeah, I get it's yeah. I've got to ask you 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.440 this because I love my parents, you know, my parents, 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.520 and those are very valiably people that I've got to 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:31.720 ask you this. What is the biggest life lesson you've 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:32.640 learned from mom and dad? 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:34.599 Optimism? 0:13:35.040 --> 0:13:37.880 Optimism and education, education. 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.000 And unconditional love and tough love. You know, there was 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:44.000 tough love. It was it was pretty pretty brutal experience 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:45.720 they were coming from, so there was no other way. 0:13:46.040 --> 0:13:48.720 There was no easy day in their life until both 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:52.400 really came to Australia and started their family here. But 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:54.520 they were both pulled out of school at a young age. 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.400 Dead was working in the coal mines of Glasgow looking 0:13:57.400 --> 0:14:00.280 at running the pit ponies when he was thirteen or 0:14:00.320 --> 0:14:02.840 fourteen years of age. His big break to get out 0:14:02.880 --> 0:14:05.800 of the mines was World War Two. So you know, 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:08.360 Dad's life really didn't start until in the forties when 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:11.040 he came out to Australia and Mum worked hard and 0:14:11.000 --> 0:14:12.760 then then when she came to Australia, she was working 0:14:12.760 --> 0:14:16.000 all the factories out broad Meadows, but you know they 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.640 were able to provide for them. Every year. It was 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:21.880 the battle to get the books and the uniform and 0:14:21.920 --> 0:14:24.800 play the school fees. And you know we were pretty 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.120 lucky and that you know, we won scholarships and my 0:14:27.160 --> 0:14:29.760 elder sister, my brother Frank, my young sister Bridget and myself, 0:14:30.080 --> 0:14:32.080 so that gave us a chance here. I went to 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:35.000 CBCS and killed her, so it was great again. It 0:14:35.120 --> 0:14:37.760 was education by osmosis. I'd get on the train every 0:14:37.760 --> 0:14:40.440 morning and my brother actually brought this to my attention 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.840 because he did the same thing. And you get on 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:45.960 with all the working class people in broad Meadows and 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:49.280 they'd go into beginning off the various factories along industrial 0:14:49.480 --> 0:14:51.680 broad Meadows Line in those days, and you know, on 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.760 the way up you'd smell then Abisco factory and work 0:14:53.800 --> 0:14:56.560 out whether they're making Vita bridge that day or chocolate 0:14:56.600 --> 0:14:58.600 or whatever, you know, And then I'd get on and 0:14:58.640 --> 0:15:00.920 read the paper. Bought the paper every morning, and you 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:02.680 go to Flint Street and as you've got to Essendon, 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.240 sort of more professional people getting on, whether they were 0:15:05.440 --> 0:15:08.520 public servants or lawyers and things and sort of different 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:10.200 people in the suits. And then at the end of 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:11.800 the day and then when you know, you go to 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:13.280 the city, you get off at Flint the street and 0:15:13.320 --> 0:15:15.880 out would go to windsor go past the Rosella factory 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:17.480 in Richmond. You'd smell where they were. 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.280 Cooking making that day effort to get to school. 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.400 So it was an effort, but it was also it 0:15:21.400 --> 0:15:23.240 was good fun. It was late coming home when you're 0:15:23.640 --> 0:15:26.200 fullty training and things. So quite often in Windo you 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:27.960 go to school in the dark and come home in 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:31.400 the dark, and you know it, you learned how To's a. 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.560 Malay credit to you work, I think probably comes a 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:34.480 little bit from that. 0:15:34.480 --> 0:15:36.640 It does. Yeah, well you were you're working twelve hour 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.200 days at school and go home and do your homework. 0:15:39.240 --> 0:15:42.320 But most importantly you see at the end of the day, 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:44.280 and you'd see that, you know, the working class people 0:15:44.320 --> 0:15:47.400 getting on and you know they had the dirt on 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:50.320 them and things going home and they worked a really 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:54.640 hard day, and you know that that to me was 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:59.040 inspiring to see people who were literally doing pick and 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.920 shovel jobs my dad was, who were doing it and 0:16:01.960 --> 0:16:04.200 for their families and then you know, you might even 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:06.480 got to church on a Sunday and you knew all 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:07.920 the faces and all that sort of stuff, and you'd 0:16:07.920 --> 0:16:11.440 see them dressed in their Sunday best and they were 0:16:11.440 --> 0:16:13.760 doing great, and they would be the president of the 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.760 local football club, so Dominic's Football Club or Broady Footy 0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:19.080 Club or those things. And you'd see these people in 0:16:19.160 --> 0:16:22.760 different different guyss and then you'd work out that day 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:27.120 actually just good hard working class people. They're hugely inspirational. 0:16:27.440 --> 0:16:29.600 And at the same time you'd see the professional people 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.240 and go all right, there's another way through this as well, 0:16:32.640 --> 0:16:35.080 and that was inspirational for so you know, I remember 0:16:35.080 --> 0:16:36.960 one time saying to my dad, I want to get 0:16:37.200 --> 0:16:39.000 a job, a part time job. You know, my mates 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:42.240 at school were getting making money packing shelves at Corl's 0:16:42.280 --> 0:16:44.560 and I said, He'd think this is great. I want 0:16:44.560 --> 0:16:46.640 to step up. He said, you kidding, He said, I 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:49.120 haven't come twelve thousand miles for you to stack shelves. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:51.240 He said, get in there and do your homework. And 0:16:51.280 --> 0:16:53.160 he said, I'll clean your boots, your jobs to get 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:56.320 them dirty. You win the trophies, old clean them was 0:16:56.360 --> 0:17:00.680 his motto, and that was it and okay, said you 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:04.240 were here to study, get the marks, get the results, 0:17:04.440 --> 0:17:07.680 and get on with your life. So that wasn't pressure. 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.160 It was inspiring. But at the same time you knew 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:14.679 that people were sacrificing their lives and you know, you know, 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:17.520 the letters would come from Scotland from an island every week, 0:17:17.800 --> 0:17:20.840 and the air mail and things like that, and as 0:17:20.840 --> 0:17:23.360 you've got a bit older, you realized how much they left. 0:17:23.160 --> 0:17:23.880 Behind it to suck. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:27.000 So from there you were you were obliged to have 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.240 a go. And then you know, as you know, you 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.160