Jeff ‘Joffa’ Corfe opens up about his horrific childhood and life on the streets to help homeless people

JEFF ‘JOFFA’ Corfe was beaten as a child and chucked on the streets by his mother when he was 14. Now the cult Collingwood fan is opening up about his horrific past in an attempt to help others.

‘Joffa’ Corfe is one of nine troubled youths who turned their lives around who feature in the book Doin’ Time. Picture: Josie Hayden

THE man behind the larrikin facade of Jeff “Joffa” Corfe was once difficult to meet.

But the jovial leader of the Collingwood cheer squad, 52, has felt more comfortable in recent years opening up about his rough and damaging childhood.

Corfe lived in a home where his mother would drag him and his siblings around the house by their hair, made them wear rags, beat them and locked them out of the house for days.

His father was a drunk.

But what he remembers most clearly was his mother trying to burn the house down with all her children inside.

His mother was sent to a psychiatric hospital and all seven children were sent to live with others.

Joffa was five.

Joffa says many people are shocked to discover the extent to which homelessness affects young people. Picture: Alex Coppel.

His mother was a Collingwood supporter but the first game he attended was with volunteers who took the children on outings.

The game was at Victoria Park in Abbotsford where Collingwood legend Peter McKenna was so close, Joffa could have reached out and touched him.

He thought the experience was “magic”.

Joffa would move back and forth between the care of the others and his parent’s home.

But when he was 14, his mother pushed him out the front door and threw his clothes out after him.

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His first nights on the street consisted of a bed made of cardboard and newspapers for blankets.

As the adrenaline of the first few days wore off, he began to worry about what would happen to him.

He found companionship with another homeless youth who was accustomed to life on the streets.

Joffa said they slept in an abandoned warehouse near the Queen Victoria Market and his mate showed him how to survive until the day he took his own life.

With the loss of his “protector” Joffa had to get a job and find shelter.

He lied his way into a plastics factory, telling the foreman he was 15 and knew how to use the machinery.

With his first pay cheque, he moved into a boarding house that reeked of urine and faeces.

He worked in the plastics factory for a year and then drifted in and out of jobs and boarding houses.

But Joffa still went to Victoria Park every Saturday when a Collingwood home match was played.

In 1999, with a group of other Collingwood fans and the backing of the chairman Eddie McGuire and the club, he injected passion back into the club’s cheer squad.

He has led the cheer squad ever since.

“I want to get out there and fight for people who are in the position that I was once in.” Picture: Josie Hayden

Besides his passion for the Magpies, he has spent the past 17 years aiding the homeless through his work with the Salvation Army.

Corfe, who has thrown his support behind the Home For Hope campaign, said he wants to help young people find a way out of the darkness.

The Maribyrnong Leader, in partnership with the 20th Man Fund, is calling for a youth emergency centre to be built in the municipality.

“When you become a public figure people what to know about you and what you think so I have used that to break the stigma around epilepsy, hepatitis, homeless and mental health,” Corfe said.

“Society still sees homelessness as the old man on the park bench with a bottle of Sherry but sadly that’s not the case.

“People are shocked when they find out that a great part of homelessness today is young people.

“We all have skeletons in the closet but I’m no longer embarrassed about my life. I’m in a very comfortable position and I’m in a good spot. I want to get out there and fight for people who are in the position that I was once in.”

His story will feature in the new book, Doin’ Time, which shares the stories of nine troubled youths who turned their lives around.

The book, by Rachel Porter, is out now.