NAB League 2019: Eastern Ranges dedicate Round 5 win to late club stalwart Mary Pennington
Eastern Ranges dedicated their 59-point win over Gold Coast Suns Academy to club stalwart Mary Pennington and the wife of game-day manager John Bigelow, who passed away within a week of each other.
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They linked arm-in-arm to celebrate the win but also to help the healing for two of the club’s life members.
Eastern Ranges dedicated their 59-point win over Gold Coast Suns Academy at Trevor Barker Beach Oval on Saturday to the wives of Alf Pennington and John Bigelow.
Alf and John sang the song in the middle of the circle surrounded by players, staff and coaches after the passing of their wives — Mary Pennington and Wendy Bigelow — within a week of each other.
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Mary and Alf have been volunteers at the club for more than 25 years.
More than a game. â¤#WeAreRanges pic.twitter.com/imSo6WTUhO
— Eastern Ranges (@Eastern_Ranges) April 27, 2019
Mary printed off the surnames of opposition players for the whiteboard magnets every week, and Alf has completed hundreds of games as timekeeper — among many other roles.
John serves as match-day manager and is a respected figure around the club.
Mary was last at the club on the Thursday prior to the Round 4 trip to Queensland and passed away suddenly but peacefully on April 16.
“She’d spend an hour going through the opposition team, printing them all out and peeling off the old magnets and putting on the new ones,” Eastern talent manager Sean Toohey said.
“She did it pretty precisely … I had to do them this week and they were a little bit wonky.”
The club’s best and fairest — the Pennington Medal — is named in recognition of their tireless volunteer work around the club.
Toohey has known both the Pennington and Bigelow families since he was a teenager, when he was a player coming through the program.
“They’ve been great support to me and you can’t put into words what they’ve done for the club over a 25, 26-year period,” he said.
“It’s an extremely sad time for our club … Mary would have wanted the show to go on and for the boys to go out and play footy.”
After a dour first half when just three goals were kicked, Eastern cut the game open after halftime.
Bailey White (four) and Jamieson Rossiter (three) combined for seven of Eastern’s 11 goals, Riley Smith dominated the ruck and Zak Pretty impressed through the midfield.
“The boys wanted to make sure — they want to perform well every week — but I suppose a little bit more incentive this week to do the right thing by both Alf and John,” Toohey said.
“It was special for them to enjoy the win and we sung the song as a whole club … it was a nice touch. Alf and John really enjoyed it and appreciated it.
“The players got around them and showed what a really good mature group they are.”
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