By David Nagel
Ray Coombs – just the second life member to be inducted as a legend at Nar Nar Goon behind Bill ‘Doc’ Doherty – was honoured in April with the unveiling of a bench-seat that will carry his name courtesy of a specially minted plaque.
APRIL, 2022
A legendary volunteer of Nar Nar Goon was celebrated on Saturday at the same time that an army of behind-the-scenes heroes carried on his magnificent legacy.
Ray Coombs – just the second life member to be inducted as a legend at the club behind Bill ‘Doc’ Doherty – was honoured with the unveiling of a bench-seat that will carry his name courtesy of a specially minted plaque.
Coombs is a treasured figure at Nar Nar Goon, and his passing on November 5, 2018, just 15 days short of his 76th birthday, left a gaping hole around town.
He was secretary at the club for 13 years, did the line marking for 28, and was a tireless contributor to many organisations around town.
His work at the Nar Nar Goon Country Fire Authority (CFA), and even local Bingo Hall, made Coombs one of the most recognisable and respected figures around town.
But it was his contribution to the Nar Nar Goon Football Club that was celebrated on the weekend.
“This really is an honour, not only for Ray, but for us, to have this, it’s just fabulous,” Ray’s widow Gwyn said shortly after the bench’s unveiling.
“Ray was a great member of the Nar Nar Goon Football Club; it was his home.
“Unfortunately, he did pass away on the ground but he did a hell of a lot for Nar Nar Goon and he just loved every moment of it.”
The club, well it played a huge part in the building of Ray and Gwyn’s special relationship.
“I met Ray in 1961 in Williamstown, where I came from, and a few years after that he would take me to the footy matches at Nar Nar Goon and introduce me to new people,” Gwyn recalled.
“I made a hell of a lot of new friends, the McKenna’s, the Jones’s, the Knapp’s…it made my life a lot easier coming from the city to the country, that’s for sure.
“We were also involved in the netball and went to a lot of social functions at both clubs and they were both wonderful clubs to be a part of. We had some very memorable times.”
The Coombs family home, just a stone’s throw from the ground, provided the perfect base for Ray to do his thing.
But Gwyn, well she took a back seat.
“I kept quiet because Ray was secretary and he had enough on his plate with the running of the ground and everything else…he didn’t want a wife who thought she knew everything telling him what to do,” she said with a smile and glint in her eye.
“So, I sat in the car and barracked.
“Ray was secretary but he would do anything that was asked of him.
“He would boundary and goal umpire, cut the oranges, run water, whatever they wanted him to do, he would do.”
Amongst his many other roles, line marking the ground would become the task that he would become most famous for…putting 28 years, and a lot of thought, into his craft.
“He invented a machine to attach to the back of the ride-on mower here,” Gwyn explained, pointing to Ray’s mower that sat beside the bench seat.
“It was much easier for him to ride around than walk the ground all the time.
“He was always careful and worried about getting the mixture of the lime right too, because if the boys fell on the lines, it would burn them.”
Gwyn said her children, Greg, Jayne and Robyn, and grandchildren, Cooper, Erin and Lincoln, would remember Saturday fondly and treasure the gesture from Nar Nar Goon moving forward.
“It’s just fabulous, such a beautiful day, my family are very, very grateful and Ray, he would be chuffed, he would he thrilled with this,” Gwyn said.
“Clubs are mostly the same, but Nar Nar Goon is just so special and we do appreciate what the club has done here for our kids and grandchildren.
“It’s great to have this as a mark of their grandfather’s memory.”
Ray Coombs would have been especially proud on Saturday, with current-day president Patrick Noonan leading a wonderful team of behind-the-scenes workers into action.
An army of volunteers were working in the canteen, Dave Mason was working behind the bar, Kylie Pipicelli had the new Goon Shop (apparel) under control, and new secretary Kylie Murphy was busy helping to run the many events on the day.
There was the return of the 1980 premiership players, the presentation of specially designed Anzac Day jumpers, and the respectful Anzac Day ceremony that took place just moments before the senior game began.
But the unveiling of the Ray Coombs Bench Seat…for Nar Nar Goon locals…it was the most special event of all!
