Mooroopna legend Graham Ferguson notches 500 games as water carrier

He has been dubbed an ‘icon’ of the Mooroopna footy club and even if it was a little late, beloved water carrier Graham Ferguson will celebrate a monster milestone in style this weekend.

The celebration may actually be a little late but the passion will be the same for Mooroopna Football Club “icon” Graham Ferguson when he brings up his 500th official game on Saturday.

Known by all at the club simply as ‘Ferg’, the stalwart water carrier will notch up his milestone at home against Rochester.

When Ferguson, who has down syndrome, began talk of hitting game 500 last year, he set off a scramble through the records.

Mooroopna water carrier Graham Ferguson belts out the song after a win

“They do have records somewhere of each team sheet but back in the day they were on paper so it was hard to get the absolute record,” Mooroopna director of finance Norm Davis said.

“When he was saying he was coming up for 500 games, I said I better check to make sure it is true.”

Ferguson, 44, was told to cool his heels a little until the club’s first home game of 2025, even though he was most likely correct that the milestone came earlier.

“He would have been right and he would have known he has done his 500th,” his mother Karen said.

The official record was updated late last year to stand at 485 senior games, plus 13 interleague outings for the GVFL, and Ferguson notched game 499 last week in Mansfield.

Mooroopna Football Club huddle with Graham Ferguson (in orange) watching on

Whether the numbers are spot on or not, the milestone man himself didn’t mind.

“I have been waiting to make this milestone for years,” he said.

The man known as ‘Ferg’ was first brought down to the football club by high school teacher Brian Robbins, who as Mooroopna senior coach, asked the then 15-year-old to help with the water duties for his team.

That was in 1996, and he has been a constant on the boundary ever since.

“It is a passion, I do it for passion and love. Love for the jumper,” Ferguson said.

“On the first day I was a kid, I was 15 when I started and I just loved it after that. Football is in my blood.”

Ferguson has also played E-grade at the Mooroopna Cricket Club for years and Karen Ferguson said he had always been welcome.

He is regularly seen making the 3km trip down to the club by foot, as a way of keeping up his fitness, and often will politely turn down an offer for a lift from a mate.

In a big month of milestones, he also recently notched up 25 years working part-time at the local Coles.

Ferg (far right) gets in on the celebration after the GVFL won a 2011 interleague clash with Ballarat.

“The football club and the cricket club have just been a second home for Graham,” she said.

“He doesn’t miss training. Even during the pandemic he hated it when he wasn’t able to run water for the boys.

“The nurturing he has been given by the Mooroopna Football Club over the years has just been absolutely priceless. We’ve never had to worry about Ferg on the weekend. If it is football season then that is his main focus and we have never had to worry about running him anywhere because the football club members have made sure he got there safely.”

Ferguson has been a rusted-on Brisbane Lions supporter in the big league since he went to the Queensland Expo as a kid and drove past Carrara Oval, where the Bears then played.

He spent time as a Victorian mascot for the team in the 1990s and shrewdly won over the club doorman to sneak into the rooms and hang out with the players.

He made sure he was at the MCG last September to see his team smash Sydney and claim the premiership.

Karen Ferguson was adamant that ‘Ferg’ has become “just one of the blokes” when at the club and hasn’t been treated any differently due to his disability.

He is usually the first to pay up his season membership and to put his name down for a social event.

“No one panders to Ferg and no one has to make any allowances, he is a responsible adult,” she said.

“It has been like a big family club in a lot of ways, the Mooroopna Football Club, and he has been part of the fold. He always has been.”

Davis agreed: “he is just an icon around the club really, everybody knows him and he is really keen on football”.

Ferguson said he was keen to catch up with family to mark his 500th and “we will probably go back into the rooms to celebrate afterwards and have a couple of drinks”.