Colin Ronald ‘Popey’ Pope: Tributes flow for Warwick Redbacks life member

A legendary member of the Warwick sporting community has been remembered by family, friends and former players as tributes flow after news of the death of Colin ‘Cardinal’ Pope.

Warwick Redbacks registrar and life member Colin Pope and new recruit Ashley Pitt. Photo Deanna Millard / Warwick Daily News

A legendary member of the Warwick sporting community has been remembered fondly by family, friends and players of his beloved club following news of his death.

Colin Ronald Pope, known as ‘Popey’ or ‘Cardinal’ by his mates, passed away on April 5, at the age of 76.

The sporting legend was a life member of the Warwick Redbacks AFL club and his contribution to the sport saw both an event and medal named after him, the Cardinal Cup and the Colin Pope Player’s Player Award, respectfully.

Former coach and fellow life member Peter Millard said the Cardinal Cup was dreamt up by Popey following a visit to see family at Lismore.

“When he was down in Lismore he said to one of the coaches down there ‘we’d love to have a pre-season thing’ mainly because we didn’t want to play any Toowoomba teams and show off our tactics,” Mr Millard said.

“We ended up getting Jimboomba and Goondiwindi in later years, and he was the instigator in that. He is the Pope so we called it the Cardinal Cup.”

Mr Millard shared a special memory at the most recent iteration of the Cardinal Cup, mere weeks before Popey sadly passed.

Warwick Redbacks registrar and life member Colin Pope with Ashley Pitt. (Photo: File)

Following a fantastic performance by the Warwick lads, beating Jimboomba Redbacks 104-76 in the cup final, Mr Millard took Popey into the sheds after the match to chat to the boys.

“I took him in and did a bit of a speech for him in front of all the newer players, but all the older boys knew exactly who he was, it was a really a touching moment for everybody,” he said.

“A player called Samson Lowney won the best on ground this year and didn’t really know Popey as well as we do because he’s a bit of a newer player, but he walked up and gave him his medal out of the blue.

“I thought it was very touching, and said to Samson, ‘why did you do that,’ and he said that he just felt like he had to and that would have been one of his proudest moments.”

Popey also did a local sports recap on Rose FM, showing his passion and love for all things rural sport, not just Aussie Rules, and was known to door knock all the time looking for sponsors.

“He knew everyone in town, from businesses and every publican, because he was always there trying to do raffles and raise money for the club,” Mr Millard said.

“As a small club we were struggling from the very start and he was the main instigator with the club to get us off the ground and get us to where we are today.”

Colin and Cheryl Pope at the Warwick Redbacks trophy night. (Photo: File)

In a statement on Facebook the Warwick Redbacks AFL and Cricket Club paid tribute to Pope.

“Popey has been a huge part of the club over the last 23 years, held positions on the committee, executive, was president for four years and has always been a big advocate of the game on the Darling Downs and in Warwick,” the statement said.

“The Redbacks were blessed to have had Colin attend the Cardinal cup a couple of weeks back and see the happiness on his face as his team lifted the cup.”

Cardinal Cup organiser Colin Pope with Stan Borchard of the Horse and Jockey. (Photo: File)

Relatives and family, as well as all committee members, current and past players for the Redbacks are invited to attend the funeral service at Redbacks Football Club on April 14 at 11am.

Originally published as Colin Ronald ‘Popey’ Pope: Tributes flow for Warwick Redbacks life member