At last night’s Liston trophy medal ceremony at Crown Casino, Coburg Football Club legend Ian Liversidge was just one of three inductees to the VFL/VFA Hall of Fame, for his 50 years of service to the Coburg Football Club.
“It’s a great honour”, Liversidge said.
Liversidge, better known by his nickname ‘Jex’ has dedicated a significant portion of his life to Coburg since joining the club back in 1966 as a Thirds footballer.
“I had never played football before” he confessed.
Yet a short stint as a low level tiered footballer was all Liversidge needed to kick-start a journey as an administrator that would take him through three 1st division VFA premierships, a Richmond alignment and on into the 21st century.
“I think it’s the people you meet, I’ve got a lot of long-time friends, and I lot of people I still see.” He remarked.
And he certainly has made an impression on others, he adopted a nickname in his playing days that has stuck for over 4 decades.
“A bloke playing with me for South Districts ruffled my hair once and said it felt like steel wool and gave me the nickname ‘Jex’, a brand name of steel wool scourers”.
But when the fun and games were over ‘Jex’ insisted it on himself to stay involved with the club once his playing days were done.
He started as an administrator working with player payments throughout the eighties and nineties and has served every role from vice-president to bingo operator.
“I like the history and enjoy serving the club, and I’m probably a bit of a sticky beak, I like to know what’s going on” he smiled.
Continuing in a role today serving on the Past Players & Officials Committee, Liversidge is proud of the club’s revival since separating from Richmond following the end of the 2013 season.
“Credit has to be given to Peter German, he’s a very good football coach and also obviously Craig [Lees] in the administration”
Turning 70 next month, Jex has no intention of slowing down just yet and plans to continue his participation to Coburg for the foreseeable future, continuing to serve behind the bar at all after match functions.
“I’ve always felt that someone showing an old bugger a bit of respect keeps me going”
But if there were one significant moment of pride from Ian’s Coburg life, it would come back to sister Rae, who came down to help the club when it was in dire straits in the early 90s.
“I asked her [Rae] to come down and she became a secretary and she started coming to meetings, then match days, and went from two days a week to three days a week.”
“She was one of the those people who couldn’t just sit there, she was sensational.” He recounted.
Now with his 50th VFA/VFL season in the books, Liversidge has received life membership into the organisation that he has spent an enormous portion of his life involved with, but if anything places an even greater value on his awards from the Lions.
“Being made a [Coburg FC] life member was a surprise in 1979, and to be recognized amongst the people you socialise was special.” He stated.
Jex is a hallmark example of the type of people that make local and semi-professional football clubs great, and next time you grab a drink at the bar a friendly ‘How are ya?’ is what you’ll be greeted by.
