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Collingwood legend Lou Richards dies

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Collingwood legend and media personality Lou Richards has died at the age of 94.

Richards passed away peacefully on Monday in his Melbourne nursing home.

He was Collingwood captain from 1952 to 1955, leading the side to a premiership in 1953 and was the leading goalkicker in 1944, 1948 and 1950.

Richards was one of the inaugural inductees into the AFL Hall of Fame in 1996, but was disappointed at never being upgraded to official legend status, a situation that caused a good deal of controversy in football circles.

The former champion cashed in a 250-game career to become a newspaper columnist and radio and television personality like no other.

He was renowned for his witty observations and quick retorts, and in turn had to cop plenty of good-natured ribbing from his media colleagues, who were aware that his confident, even brash "on air" persona belied a vulnerable streak of self-doubt.

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Collingwood Football Club described Richards as a pioneer, legend and icon, saying Richards and his family would "forever be a part of the Collingwood story".

Richards was "arguably the first truly transcendent superstar of Australia's game," the club said.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire described Richards, who was named as one of the 125 Champions of Collingwood at the club's 125th birthday celebrations on Saturday, as "a giant of the game".

"It's a terribly sad day for the Collingwood Football Club, for the AFL, for everyone who loves football but also for the city of Melbourne because nobody epitomised Melbourne and its love affair with football and entertainment more than the great Lou Richards," he said.

Photo gallery
Vale Collingwood legend Lou Richards

"He was everything, Lou. You name it, Lou did it and did it with panache."

McGuire said a state funeral would be fitting "if people deemed it appropriate".

But he wouldn't be drawn on the Hall of Fame, saying it was discussion "for another day".

AFL chief executive Gill McLachlan remembered Richards as "the original driving force of the media's expanding interest in our game".

"Everyone in our industry, who is fortunate to earn a living around the game we love, has the likes of Lou Richards to thank for his work ethic, his love of the game, his willingness to both poke fun at himself and others and his one-off originality," McLachlan said.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull remembered him as a "legend and a larrikin".

"His irreverence, energy and good humour as thoroughly Australian as the game he loved," he tweeted.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said what Richards lacked in height, he made up for in fight.

"Farewell to a legend named Lou," he tweeted. "A Victorian icon."

Channel Seven, where Richards spent most of his television career, said he was a pioneer of sports broadcasting, commentary and particularly the magazine show format.

Alongside fellow football legends Bob Davis and Jack Dyer he also became known as one of the so-called 'Three Wise Monkeys' on League Teams.

Long-time colleague and producer Gordon Bennett, who worked with Richards on League Teams and World of Sport, said the fans "all loved Lou".

"He was their hero. Even though he was a Collingwood player, people from all teams loved chatting to him."

Collingwood champion Peter Daicos says Lou Richards "made me love the game", and joined former Magpies captain Tony Shaw in calling for him to be granted Legend status in the Australian Football Hall of Fame.

It was also Richards who gave Daicos his famous nickname, 'The Macedonian Marvel'. "He thought enough of me to christen me that, and to be acknowledged like that by him was a big deal," Daicos said.

Shaw recalled that Lou Richards had written a scathing article about him early in his career.

"He said I was too short and too slow and I cut it out and stuck it in my locker. We laughed our heads off about it later and then when we won the premiership in 1990 he said, 'I suppose now I'm Collingwood's second-best premiership captain' ."  

Shaw said Richards should already have been elevated to Legend status, and it should now happen posthumously.

"He was a good footballer and an entertainer, but what he's done for the game, he should be a legend of the AFL," Shaw said. 

Richards was born in tough surrounds and circumstances in Collingwood.

He played for Collingwood for 15 years, kicking 423 goals. He also wore the Big V in 1947 and 1948.

He broke into the media in 1955 with a job as an expert comments scribe with the now defunct Argus newspaper, and radio commentator with radio 3XY.

Later, he moved to The Sun and radio 3DB, and much later to the Sunday Age; he was part of the Channel Seven team that launched World of Sport in 1958, and League Teams, which became Melbourne sporting institutions for more than two decades.

Richards then moved to Channel Nine and Wide World of Sports and Sports Sunday.

His last regular television spot was handling the somewhat chaotic handball segment on the Sunday Footy Show, from which he retired at the end of 2008.

On each show, his mischievous humour was pivotal to the informed coverage/hilarity/nonsense that perennially rated highly.

On the newspaper side, Richards and his cohorts dreamt up all manner of publicity stunts to keep "Loui the Lip" in the news.

Richards entered the business world early in his media career when he bought the Town Hall pub in North Melbourne.

Later, he took the lease on another watering hole, the Phoenix, which he ran with his wife, Edna.

He never won Collingwood's best and fairest (Copeland Trophy) award, but several community awards awaited him.

In 1975 he was named Football Personality of the Year; in 1981 he was  crowned King of Moomba; and in 1982 the National Trust classified him a living treasure to be protected against demolition. With typical humour, Richards said that when he received the call, he feared he was going to be "certified".

He was awarded life membership of the VFL but at the end, elevation to football's Hall of Fame eluded him. Perhaps now that honour will be posthumous.

Joffa Corfe, leader of Collingwood's cheer squad, said Richards' passing marked a sad day in the Pies' history.

"It's always sad when a club loses a legend like Lou Richards. It's an empty feeling, but he's left us with fond memories that will last through the generations."

Magpies premiership captain Tony Shaw told Fox Footy Richards was an "icon" of Collingwood.

"When you think you think Lou, you think about the Collingwood Football Club, you think about entertainment, and you think about a larrikin person."

Richards was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 2008.

Chairman John Bertrand AO said on Monday Richards was "not only a trailblazer on and off the football field, his larrikin streak truly epitomised his hard-nosed Aussie spirit".

Edna, Richards' beloved, devoted and understanding wife of 60 years, who was happy to be the butt of some of his jokes, died in March 2008.

He is survived by his daughters Nicole and Kim, and five grandchildren.

With AAP

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