Was a good fella, loved the market, loved a drink and was only...

Was a good fella, loved the market, loved a drink and was only having beers with him not long ago. R.I.P Len


COLLINGWOOD'S Len Thompson was universally acclaimed yesterday by teammates and opponents as a ruckman before his time, but an absolute champion in his time.

Thompson, 60, died suddenly yesterday, 42 years to the day he made his debut for Collingwood in the 1965 preliminary final against Essendon.

While all lauded his football feats, they also spoke of his greatness as a person and a father of six.

It was perhaps fitting that many of the game's greatest players saw him for the final time on Friday at a gathering of AFL life members.

The gentle giant was the first of the big, athletic ruckmen with skills normally associated with smaller players.

Thompson and teammate Des Tuddenham hit the headlines in 1970 with a strike for better pay. They were disenchanted with the money the club offered interstate recruits.

Life was often a battle off the field for Thompson who put his 1972 Brownlow medal up for sale in 1999 to help fund his children's education. It sold at auction for $74,000.

He endured a chronic back injury, a legacy of his 301-game career, before Collingwood helped pay for corrective surgery four years ago.

More recently he had stents inserted in arteries in his heart. There had been no hint recently of any health worries.

Tuddenham, who had employed his mate in his demolition business in recent years, was joined at the Lexus Centre yesterday by former champion full-forward Peter McKenna and Wayne Richardson to honour their teammate.

McKenna said Thompson, who captained Collingwood in 1978, was an amazing player "for a guy over six foot six".

"He was the first of the running ruckmen -- think of Dean Cox of West Coast with his skills. Len Thompson played the same way," he said.

"He would run and bounce and kick with both feet. He was before his time."

McKenna, a year older than Thompson, shared the same birthday as the great ruckman -- August 27.

And each year, one would ring the other to wish him a happy birthday.

"It was a competition to see who get in first," McKenna said.

"This year the phone rang at 7.30am. He said, 'I've woken you up, haven't I?'

"And there he was, Len, wishing me a happy birthday and I said, 'Aren't you lucky to share your birthday with a champion?' And he said, 'Yes, I realise it's Don Bradman's birthday as well'."

Tuddenham said today's players probably benefited a little when he and Thompson went on strike.

"We said, 'It's time to get a bit of leeway for the players', and Thommo stood with me.

"The committee wouldn't sit down and negotiate because we had a solicitor and a manager," Tuddenham said.

"We took it on the chin and kept going. We've always been renowned for that, but Thommo stuck with me. He was a great friend, a great father.

"He was before his time, but an out-and-out champion in his time."

Asked how Thompson would like to be remembered, Richardson, who enjoyed incredible success as Thompson's No. 1 rover, said it would be as a good father.

"And proud of the fact that he came to Collingwood, was probably their best ruckman, a Copeland Trophy winner and in their Hall of Fame. That was Thommo's life," he said.

At 200cm and 96kg, his mobility troubled many smaller opponents, including Carlton legend John Nicholls, who yesterday wanted to remember Thompson more as a friend than anything else.

"We played against each other and together for Victoria. He was just a lovely bloke," Nicholls said.

"I enjoyed his company and this is just such a shock. I sat next to him last Friday at the life members' function. I would class him as a close friend."

South Melbourne's triple Brownlow medallist Bobby Skilton said Thompson would be missed by many people.

"He was just a lovely person and a footballer ahead of his time," he said.

"And if he was going around today, I reckon he would have a picnic."

Another of Thompson's opponents, former Footscray and Kangaroos ruckman Gary Dempsey, who won the 1975 Brownlow Medal, remembered Thompson as a friend and formidable opponent.

"He is up there with the best ruckmen," he said.

"He would be an absolute sensation today. He was just a great person."

Thompson's last season at Collingwood was 1978. He then had a season with South Melbourne and one with Fitzroy.

He is survived by his children Kari, Nicolas, Sam, Lachlan, Laura and Emily and former partners Julie, Susi and Bronwyn