Tim Watson’s cheeky tribute at the funeral of late Essendon doctor Bruce Reid
Given current restrictions, Tim Watson was charged with saying goodbye to Dr Bruce Reid on behalf of the Essendon footy club. It was the perfect mix of touching and funny.
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Every time Essendon legend Tim Watson crossed paths with his good friend and club doctor, Bruce Reid, the same story from his playing days would get a run.
“In 1986 I did my knee and Bruce diagnosed it in the rooms at Waverley,” Watson said.
“He said, ‘Oh I think you’re lucky, it doesn’t look like an ACL as there’s not enough give in your knee. You’ll miss two weeks’.
“I missed two years and it became our running joke whenever we met.
“He would laugh at his own expense and then would get that super serious look on his face and say, ‘You know what tricked me, your joints are tight, not like the Danihers’.
“And then he would motion the movement in the Danihers’ knees and how they would sway in the breeze.
“Then he would finish the sentence by saying: ‘You weren’t much good after that either were you’.”
Watson was charged with the responsibility on behalf of the Essendon Football Club to say goodbye to Reid at a funeral service in his honour on Wednesday morning.
In normal circumstances the church would have been overflowing with past and current Bombers given the love for the man who had been the club’s doctor for 36 years but instead it was only Watson who joined immediate family.
After a two-year battle with mesothelioma Reid passed away last week, aged 74.
There would have been tears shed by many throughout the AFL industry as they watched the moving tribute by those close to him with the service live streamed via Essendon‘s website.
A number of family members — he is survived by his wife, Judy, five children and 13 grandchildren — spoke about a man who loved life to the fullest, often with a glass of red wine in his hand.
Other constants included his penchant for country music, his ability to talk up his own football career — he played three games for Hawthorn — and his running ability which was often quite superior to many of the Essendon players.
He was ultra-competitive on the golf course and obsessed with his garden while loved nothing more than escaping to Yarrawonga with his extended family.
But it was his bond with the Essendon players which Watson conveyed beautifully.
“He was a unique man and we kept being drawn back to him over the course of our lives as well,” Watson said.
“We loved him also because he had the right sense of humour and seriousness.
“Doc showed us all genuine care — how many of us I wonder woke up with Reidy standing by the bed, some like the superstar James Hird probably found Reidy lying alongside him when he woke up.”
Reid never missed a footy trip with the players because he always wanted to be involved in everything.
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Watson then read out a message from former teammate Paul Salmon which summed up perfectly the Essendon family’s feelings about “Doc”:
“He could light up a room when it was at its most dark and coldest.
“Without him I don’t have the career I have and with him I am a better man who can meet life’s challenges head on and with a smile.
“He was genuinely proud of what I and my teammates achieved because he knew what went into it.
“He made it worth going to the club for training, when I think of him I smile and it makes me feel good.”