MERV Gumbleton may well be Ipswich’s biggest football fanatic.
The 70-year-old is an institution in the Ipswich region in his role as a strapper for local football clubs.
Article courtesy of the QT.
By Paul Smeaton, 20/07/12
http://www.qt.com.au/story/2012/07/20/merv-still-in-league-of-his-own/
While Merv still spends his weekends in the change rooms of the Norths Tigers rugby league club, it’s at home where his football passion is most obvious.
The retiree has become the unofficial amateur historian of Ipswich football, thanks to his love of a good football story.
The Booval resident has created dozens of scrapbooks containing everything from newspaper reports, game programs and team photographs for teams including the Ipswich Jets, Goodna Eagles rugby league and Ipswich Eagles Aussie rules clubs.
His passion has also been a key factor in the Jets’ ability to collate a history of the Ipswich Q-Cup club for their 30-year anniversary celebration this season.
“I started collecting in about 2003,” Mr Gumbleton said. “I just like to see the history of clubs.
“You walk into any club and see the history they have up on the walls with the team photos and the like but you don’t see any clippings.
“Newspapers tell the story of the club. They take you through the history, who played there, what happened.”
After a long playing career in a variety of football codes, Merv turned his hand to strapping, beginning his association with the Jets in 1987. He saw some of the region’s biggest names play, including Allan Langer, the Walters brothers and coach Tommy Raudonikis.
Those names and many more now fill the pages of his growing scrapbook collection.
What he didn’t have, he collected through records at the Queensland State Library.
Merv now boasts a near-complete 30-year-record of the Jets and decade-long histories of the Ipswich Rugby League and Aussie Rules.
The footy fan hopes the relevant codes make use of the information.
“”I’m really proud of the information I’ve been able to give to the Jets and I’m really looking forward to the finished book.”
He might be 70 but he is not finished yet. Merv still buys the QT every day and has his scissors at the ready.
FOOTY NUT
- Merv has collected 30 years of newspaper clippings about the Ipswich Jets and a decade of Ipswich Rugby League and Aussie rules stories.
- Merv’s scrapbook have been a critical component to the Ipswich Jets 30-year anniversary book currently in production.
