Toast Vale Fr Gerard Dowling

[Handsome.B.Wonderful]

RSN927 reporting that Father Gerard has passed away at 91 years old, after a battle with lymphoma. He recently celebrated 50 years of radio on 3UZ/RSN927 on his weekly radio counselling program.

A great North Melbourne supporter and pillar of the club for as long as I can remember. Author of The North Story, the official history of the club.

I used to sit behind Father Gerard in the Heatley Stand at Princes Park games. He was a very vocal supporter and took great delight in trying to put off the opposition full back as he tried to kick in after a behind.

Vale Father Gerard Dowling.

 

[Bertie22]

RSN927 reporting that Father Gerard has passed away at 91 years old, after a battle with lymphoma. He recently celebrated 50 years of radio on 3UZ/RSN927 on his weekly radio counselling program.

A great North Melbourne supporter and pillar of the club for as long as I can remember. Author of The North Story, the official history of the club.

I used to sit behind Father Gerard in the Heatley Stand at Princes Park games. He was a very vocal supporter and took great delight in trying to put off the opposition full back as he tried to kick in after a behind.

Vale Father Gerard Dowling.

Another Shinboner legend. Great man. Loved his Club!!!

 

[DarkPhoenix]

The ladies were wearing black armbands for Fr Gerard today as well as for Gordon McDonald former physio, per the clubs Women's facebook page.

Vale to them both.

 

[Hojuman]

Remember devouring " The North Story " when l got it iirc for x-mas 1973. Read it in about 3 or 4 days.
Still got 3 copies;




VALE Father Gerard.

 

[Gasometer]

The level of detail in the North Story is something unmatched for a non fiction account of our history.

It simply would not be published today by any Publishers were it to be propositioned from scratch.

Forever indebted and hopefully someone will be able to do an updated Edition that writes up the impending success we are about to experience

Go well Father Gerard

 

[Kanga Glory]

Great North man who volunteered thousands of hours to the club. Was a voice on the radio for our great club.
RIP

 

[gokangas]

Great man, wonderful priest, wonderful counsellor, wonderful radio broadcaster, wonderful shinboner. Vale Fr Gerard.

 

[Chadwiko]

An absolute legend of the club.

 

[King Corey]

Sad news. Great North Melbourne person.

 

[see see]

The ladies were wearing black armbands for Fr Gerard today as well as for Gordon McDonald former physio, per the clubs Women's facebook page.

Vale to them both.

View attachment 1861349

RIP Father Dowling. Like most North nuffies, I own multiple copies of his book.

Also, very sad news about Gordon McDonald, I believe his passing was sudden and unexpected. He used to be my physio and was a ripping bloke who was always happy to have a chat about the Kangas when he was subjecting me to various forms of torture. Vale Gordon.

 

[The acurate one]

RIP Father Dowling. Like most North nuffies, I own multiple copies of his book.

Also, very sad news about Gordon McDonald, I believe his passing was sudden and unexpected. He used to be my physio and was a ripping bloke who was always happy to have a chat about the Kangas when he was subjecting me to various forms of torture. Vale Gordon.

Sad news all round.

Gordon passed away while riding a bike in NZ. fit as *.

 

[joegreen]

So sad.

Dowling was so passionate about North. Did so much good work.

And speaking of good work here is a little bit of what Gordon achieved. Was part of the team that resulted in one of, if not the biggest games of football ever.

The team that saved McCartney​

June 6, 2003 — 10.00am

Heather Cleland is a Richmond supporter, but she won't mind if Jason McCartney

Jason Mccartney

Age

50

Ht

191cm

Wt

95kg

Pos.

D/F

Career

Season

Last 5

D

10.7

3star

K

7.1

3star

HB

3.5

3star

M

3.6

4star

T

0.8

3star

No current season stats available

D

10.0

3star

K

5.8

3star

HB

4.2

4star

M

3.8

4star

T

0.6

3star

stars for the Kangaroos tonight in his return to AFL football.

Ms Cleland, a plastic surgeon heading the Alfred Hospital burns unit, was one of the medical team that kept the Bali bomb victim alive in the days after the blast.

The head of the trauma unit, Professor Thomas Kossmann, was initially responsible for ensuring there was no damage to McCartney's internal organs.

But within 24 hours of arriving at the Prahran hospital, infections to his badly burnt skin and in his blood, combined with poor breathing, had the 28-year-old on the critical list.

"Anybody in that situation is at risk of dying," Ms Cleland said yesterday, reflecting on his remarkable comeback to elite competition eight months later. "He had developed significant problems with wound infections and he required a lot of returns to the operating theatre to clean out dead tissue."

McCartney arrived at the Alfred from Darwin three days after the blast - having let others leave on flights from Bali before him - fully conscious and breathing on his own. But the massive strain of having lost half his skin soon took its toll.

McCartney had to be put on a mechanical breathing machine and nursed around the clock in intensive care for more than a week before he could be transferred to the burns recovery unit.

He spent time in the hospital's pressurised hyperbaric chamber. Its extra pressure stimulates oxygen flow through the body, helping the body tissue fight infection and promoting growth of the grafted skin. For five days after the skin grafts his limbs were kept still to enable the grafted skin to attach to him. For the next eight days physiotherapists exercised his ankle and knee joints to give flexibility to the grafted skin.

On his first day out of the intensive care ward, it took three staff to get him out of bed onto a walking frame.

The next day, burns unit physiotherapist Henrietta Law helped McCartney take his first steps in more than two weeks.
"When I first saw him I knew from this man's eyes he would do anything to get what he wants," she said.

Within a week McCartney was off the walking frame. He began working out on an exercise bike and treadmill, determined to be fit for the opening bounce of the 2003 season.

But when Ms Law took him on his first walking time trial in Fawkner Park, the athlete could walk only 160 metres in two minutes, with his heart rate jumping from a resting rate of 80 beats a minute to 128.

What he had not realised, Ms Law said, was that the trauma went more than skin deep; the effect of his injuries was the equivalent of a heart bypass.

Despite her program of building up his fitness slowly, starting with jogging 100 metres, increasing to 800 metres over a few weeks, McCartney always wanted to do more. "He was always pushing to get back for round one," she said. "He called me 'Handbrake Henrietta' for holding him back."

McCartney had declined to have a piece of shrapnel taken out of his left calf muscle because it would slow down his return to football.

In February, three months after leaving hospital, McCartney went back to Fawkner Park to repeat the two-minute walk test. This time he almost doubled his distance and his heart rate was just five beats above normal.

From there, the Kangaroos' doctor, Con Mitropoulos, and club physiotherapists Roger Moore and Gordon McDonald, were charged with getting the 181-game veteran fit for football.

Dr Mitropoulos, a sports specialist, designed a six-week program of weights and running that enabled McCartney to catch up to his teammates' training.

In his first session of body contact work there was a little bleeding from ruptured skin.

He returned to football via the seconds - VFL club Port Melbourne - in March. The only time his attitude faltered was when he injured his calf muscle and missed two games last month, said Dr Mitropoulos.

He said McCartney would play against Richmond tonight in his pressurised body stocking, which he will have to wear this year to minimise scarring.

While Ms Cleland will be hoping McCartney's personal triumph will not include beating her Tigers, she says the medical team will be behind him. "It's a phenomenal effort," she said.

 

[Uncle_Leo]

Father Gerard did my wedding as my mum was good friends with him

He managed to mention a crying kid (my godson) during the ceremony was probably a Collingwood supporter and myself and my wife were good people as we barracked for North.

RIP an amazing North Melbourne man

 

[goalieboy82]

RSN927 reporting that Father Gerard has passed away at 91 years old, after a battle with lymphoma. He recently celebrated 50 years of radio on 3UZ/RSN927 on his weekly radio counselling program.

A great North Melbourne supporter and pillar of the club for as long as I can remember. Author of The North Story, the official history of the club.

I used to sit behind Father Gerard in the Heatley Stand at Princes Park games. He was a very vocal supporter and took great delight in trying to put off the opposition full back as he tried to kick in after a behind.

Vale Father Gerard Dowling.

the Library of Congress here has a copy of that book (along with Ron Barassi's book)

 

[Pres]

Also, very sad news about Gordon McDonald, I believe his passing was sudden and unexpected. He used to be my physio and was a ripping bloke who was always happy to have a chat about the Kangas when he was subjecting me to various forms of torture. Vale Gordon.

This is terrible news about Gordo - I had no idea and just became aware.

He was always my physio when in town and an absolute ripping bloke and extremely funny.

I remember seeking his counsel a week after I exchanged words briefly with Crock after a woeful Rd 1 loss against West Coast a few years back as he left the box. I asked him to apologise for me as I felt bad (he knew him well). He said to me that Crock would most likely already have forgotten - and to do my own dirty work!

Great man. RIP.

 

[goalieboy82]

the Library of Congress here has a copy of that book (along with Ron Barassi's book)

LC Catalog - Item Information (Full Record)

LC Catalog - No Connections Available

 

[goalieboy82]

LC Catalog - Item Information (Full Record)

LC Catalog - No Connections Available

also just sent them an update for me (to add there deaths)

 

[gokangas]

Any doubt where Fr Dowlings love lived, just check out his coffin. Vale Father Shinboner.