Mod. Notice Ron The Bear RIP

[sante]

R.I.P Ron.

Obviously don’t know him personally but sometimes it feels like you do. Always made sure I read his posts when they popped up.

 

[Tzatziki_Man]

This guy was probably my favourite poster.

Horrible loss,

RIP Ron

Love all you blokes, and to the Port supporter with the brilliant write up, thank you

 

[wegetpumped]

Rip Mate as by the messages in here you were a top bloke.
Can't say due to my dementia I can remember you or locked horns with you as by the sounds of it you would have put me in place.
They say the good die young and but forget to say Legends never die which you are one, condolence to your loved ones.

 

[JR#8]

Sad news to hear.

RIP

 

[TheLoungeLizard]

Rip Mate as by the messages in here you were a top bloke.
Can't say due to my dementia I can remember you or locked horns with you as by the sounds of it you would have put me in place.
They say the good die young and but forget to say Legends never die which you are one, condolence to your loved ones.

I hope you're doing alright too mate

 

[juss]

So sad to hear. RIP Ron, thoughts are with the friends and family.

 

[rfctigerarmy]

That's terrible news. A very respected poster and will be missed.

RIP Ron, thanks for making BigFooty a better place.

 

[Marcel Proust]

Id also like to say excellent contributor, font of knowledge

 

[Put a Lids on it]

RIP RonTheBear, always enjoyed reading his posts, very sad news.

 

[PetterdHoisted]

that is gutting news, one of my favourite posters on here

 

[peterbuch74]

RIP Ron

 

[Stylo]

RIP Ron - one not easily replaced

 

[Mr Unbelievable]

RIP

 

[tony__montana]

Sad news, RIP Ron

 

[fleabitten]

This guy was probably my favourite poster.

Was going to say the same thing. Great poster and seemed like a solid guy. RIP Ron.

 

[terrybull]

R I P Ron

All things must pass

and a reminder that we are all mortals behind the nickname..

 

[BF Tiger]

RIP Ron. I don’t think I ever skipped reading one of your posts as you mostly had something worth saying. Loved the stats… you certainly answered plenty of my queries.

If there is ever a BigFooty Hall of Fame I reckon Ron The Bear should be an inaugural inductee.

P.S. I’d feel awkward starting this, but I think Ron’s passing is worthy of a main board thread.

 

[HairyO]

One of the few true legends of BigFooty. Will be sorely missed.

It didnt matter the question, within 5 minutes of reading it Ron would provide the stats.

There is now a hole I do not think can be filled.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

Ron's death has certainly left this website a statistical void that isn't easily filled.

My hope is that he has children and that one of them can access the software.

And HairyO, Ron is, indeed, a BigFooty legend.

 

[_Wang_]

Hey all, not sure how much personal stuff he shared on here, he was a private guy, but wanted to let you all know just how much of a ripper person and Richmond tragic Ron was. I didn’t really know where to put this, so forgive the soliloquy.

I met Ron when I moved to Melbourne from Adelaide to start my first job as a young fella, fresh out of Uni. Didn’t know a soul in the state. Ron was the database programmer working in the same department as me and the first question he asked was who I supported in the footy. A strange look came across his face when I said Port – he thought it was odd and had never met a fan from a club that he considered to be new. Suffice to say some lessons between us on football history went back and forth. I told him about Russell Ebert and Scott Hodges and winning flags in the 90s. He told me they didn’t count. Then he told me about Francis Bourke, Royce Hart and Jack Dyer and winning flags in the 70s. I told him they didn’t count. Then we had a statistical argument about who was better Richo or Tredrea. We agreed to disagree.

After all that we became fast friends.

Next came invites to go to the footy and stand with him in the “grog squad” behind the goals at the Punt Road end. He was too bashful to become too involved with the social stuff, but he stood there for every game for decades including in the dark days for Richmond – although he would admit that on occasion he sneak away to the TAB for a punt if things were too dire. He was certainly not bashful when it came to feedback on opposition players and/or the umpires. The language and terminology being yelled not at all 2021 appropriate. But he never had any real malice. It was just his way. He was emotional and passionate about his footy club.

Soon after that came the invite to play cricket. Ron was a crafty swing bowler, treasurer and life member for Marcelin Old Collegians. I reckon quite a few batsman would see a large Homer Simpson looking dude trotting in and underestimate him, largely to their peril. His outswinger was deadly.

Then there was the invite to the custom fantasy football tournament (before online fantasy footy was thing) where Ron and group of mates would hold draft nights and pick our players. Ron ran the scoring database, kept that stats up to date and did the results updates.

As you can tell, he was an incredible support and friend for me. Without him, I would have gotten homesick much quicker than I did, probably quit my job and moved back to Adelaide much sooner than I should have - and then who knows where I would’ve ended up.

Sadly the tyranny of distance, time and other commitments meant we didn’t catch up as often as I would have liked, then COVID hit and we somewhat lost touch other than online. So when the news came through, I felt a strong pang of regret. Give your mates a message, just to say hello. Nothing bad can come from that.

Thank you Ron for introducing me to punting, Nando’s, hand tennis, VFL lore, statistical analysis, Richmond history, some terrible language, how to handle temper tantrums but most of all thank you for being a genuine character, the likes of which I haven’t met before or since.

Love <3

 

[AstuteTiger]

Ron was a frequent poster on the mainboard and I must say when many of us tigers were going back n forth with oppo supporters you just knew it was only a matter of time before Ron would come in with his in-depth statistical data to dismantle anything put forward by opposition supporters.

Will be sadly missed not only on the Richmond board but the mainboard too.

RIP Ron

 

[Tiger_4_Life]

Vale Ron, will be missed

 

[Tarkyn_24]

RIP and condolences to all that knew him. A balanced and resourceful contributor to this site, and someone that was always willing to supply stats and insight irrespective of whether he necessarily agreed or not with your point. A loss to the site and no doubt to your board.

 

[Portology]

Very sad news. I'm not a main board poster myself so ran into Ron on his occasional visits to the Port board where he was always welcome. Dude was an absolute legend with his wide ranging knowledge and total command of stats. RIP.

 

[Ancient Tiger]

RIP Ron. Condolences to his family and friends. If there is a heaven, he will be up there bamboozling them all with his unmatched knowledge of footy stats. We will all miss him here on BigFooty, especially on the main board where he frequently slew his opposition.