Mod. Notice Ron The Bear RIP

[Stax on the mill]

R.I.P Ron The Bear. Really sad news. Condolences to his family and fellow Tiger posters. A very knowledgeable, courteous and prolific contributor, who will be sorely missed on BF. Ron was the undoubted doyen of researching and digging up the most amazing facts and figures to support his posts. You disputed his findings at your peril.

 

[South of the Yarra]

Big Footy Royalty and a man I held in the highest regard. Glad the Tiges won a few for you in recent times mate. Rest easy good man.

 

[DarkPhoenix]

Just popping in to give my respects for a BF legend.

His wit, intellect and quick hand with stats will be sorely missed and leaves a huge hole on this forum.

RIP Ron.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

No wonder they were stealing de Goey's drinks (if true).

Ron's last ever post on BigFooty

35,845 posts in total.

Join date: July 4, 2006.

EDIT: Of the 35,845 posts, 2310 of them were on the stats board.

 

[This Is Anfield]

Ron's last ever post on BigFooty

35,845 posts in total.

Join date: July 4, 2006.

EDIT: Of the 35,845 posts, 2310 of them were on the stats board.

Nice stats

 

[bomberclifford]

Sorry to hear this news.

Condolences to his friends and family, and those here on the Richmond board.

In my travels around this forum, I would always stop to read Ron's posts. I saw him as a formidable poster who used logic and statistics like a broad sword, cutting a swathe through the nuffies like Conan the Barbarian.

Vale Ron The Bear, your absence will make BigFooty a much lesser place.

 

[Elton Johns Wig]

RIP Ron, will be greatly missed by many. We have lost a good one.

 

[Jessthetigerbear]

Hi All,

We have just been given some sad news that board regular Ron The Bear passed away yesterday.

Our thoughts are with Ron's family

Thanks

Thank you. I am Ron’s youngest sister, and on behalf of all of us, reading these posts has bought us some small happiness in this hard time.

 

[Bojangles17]

Thank you. I am Ron’s youngest sister, and on behalf of all of us, reading these posts has bought us some small happiness in this hard time.

I’m sorry for your loss Jess , my sincere condolences

 

[Jessthetigerbear]

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.

Ron’s youngest sister here. His family loved reading your story, thank you! My sisters and I had Nando’s yesterday.

 

[Ando_4]

Made an incredible contribution here & on PRE.
We didn't agree on all things but as passionate a Tiger as they come.
Feels like a family member has passed. He'll be missed.
RIP.

 

[Macca19]

Such sad news. RIP Ron.

 

[Beerfish]

Condolences to family and the board. Pretty shocked to see this. I exclaimed irl and was asked what was wrong. All I could say was someone had died. Someone I never even really knew.

morell that was an important post because I didn't really like the guy much on BF generally despite his clearly impressive access to stats but after reading your post I did and you somewhat helped fill out a portrait of a guy I clearly didn't know.

 

[Brown Bottle]

Sad news. RIP Ron. Gone but not forgotten

 

[rbartlett]

Shattered. Absolutely shattered.

Been liaising with him on here since September 2013.
At a click of a finger, his database would spit out the historical stats I requested. Incredibly helpful.
And always without a fuss, and always above and beyond what I requested. On the occasions his stats went to print on larger sites, he declined any credit in the articles.

One of our last conversations a few months ago we chatted about Titus and his incredible career, and I ended our DM with
"Titus was a machine. And so are you Ron".

A huge loss for the stats community. Thankful we were lucky to have his skill and passion for such a long time.
But if I'm being honest, any future statsmen/women will always be compared against him.

Rhett.

 

[Swanks McSwankserton]

R.I.P Ron the bear, always so informative and respectful, he's what made Bigfooty a site to come back to.

 

[jimbowie03]

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.

Great post, thanks for sharing. RIP Ron.

 

[Barbieup]

Hi - another one of Ronnie's sisters here ... this is all beautiful, thank you so much. Ron had had a cough for the past few weeks, and it turned worse on Tuesday night and he called an ambulance, but they arrived too late. He tested negative for covid earlier that night. He was 53 years old.

Ronnie spent a few years on the dole in his 20s where he was writing a program to predict horse racing winners. When that didn't succeed he went back to uni and delivered pizza at nights. They called him Rainman and Calculus at MOCCC. But no one seems to know that he failed year eight and changed schools. Failed year ten and changed schools again. Out of this school hopping came an unfathomable mind for stats, and a fierce and biting use of words.

I'm not familiar with the forums, if there's anything I should read can you point me to it?

BTW, Ronnie never married or had kids. He is survived by our mum, three sisters, five nieces and nephews.

Many thanks, Barb.

 

[RedmanWasHere]

To Jess and Barb.

We are all forever indebted to your brother's statistical goldmines that reached the depths of the Mariana's Trench.

Thank you 2 for sharing Ronnie with us.

While I saw him as the stats guru, (for those with Twitter, the Swampy or Josh Kay of the website) he was also a Tigers fan and, even more than that, a member of a family.

My condolences are forever with your family.

In true Ronnie style, Dustin Martin (260) has played the most league games out of anyone born in 1991.

1968-2021.

Say hi to Asgardian, Cammo, Didaka, JUBJUB, Fred, Reykjavik, QS and The Scales for us please.

 

[Rioli2Rioli]

Hi - another one of Ronnie's sisters here ... this is all beautiful, thank you so much. Ron had had a cough for the past few weeks, and it turned worse on Tuesday night and he called an ambulance, but they arrived too late. He tested negative for covid earlier that night. He was 53 years old.

Ronnie spent a few years on the dole in his 20s where he was writing a program to predict horse racing winners. When that didn't succeed he went back to uni and delivered pizza at nights. They called him Rainman and Calculus at MOCCC. But no one seems to know that he failed year eight and changed schools. Failed year ten and changed schools again. Out of this school hopping came an unfathomable mind for stats, and a fierce and biting use of words.

I'm not familiar with the forums, if there's anything I should read can you point me to it?

BTW, Ronnie never married or had kids. He is survived by our mum, three sisters, five nieces and nephews.

Many thanks, Barb.

So Sorry for your loss and we all feel like we have also lost a member of our tiger family here , Ron was perhaps born before his time and if he was born 20 years later he would have probably been the CEO of what is now Champion Data. 53 is way way too young


R.I.P Ron

 

[peejay]

I don’t post much these days - 3 posts in 4 years but I have been on BF for 19 years. This is awful news.

RIP Ron.

 

[Hate]

Sincere condolences to family and friends. Just awfully sad news.

Hard to find a more revered poster than Ron. A true gem. I never once, despite presenting him with many inane or a barrage of questions on a whole range of issues, was greeted with anything except his willingness to offer his assistance in any way possible. I have learned a great deal from Ron over the last few years.

Rest easy, Ron.

 

[Jessthetigerbear]

Condolences to family and the board. Pretty shocked to see this. I exclaimed irl and was asked what was wrong. All I could say was someone had died. Someone I never even really knew.

morell that was an important post because I didn't really like the guy much on BF generally despite his clearly impressive access to stats but after reading your post I did and you somewhat helped fill out a portrait of a guy I clearly didn't know.

Ron’s youngest sister here. He held strong opinions, and liked to share them, but was a gentle giant at heart, and the most intelligent person I’ve ever known. He loved his friends and family, always had time for his nieces and nephews, kicking the footy or playing cricket.

 

[TheLoungeLizard]

Hi - another one of Ronnie's sisters here ... this is all beautiful, thank you so much. Ron had had a cough for the past few weeks, and it turned worse on Tuesday night and he called an ambulance, but they arrived too late. He tested negative for covid earlier that night. He was 53 years old.

Ronnie spent a few years on the dole in his 20s where he was writing a program to predict horse racing winners. When that didn't succeed he went back to uni and delivered pizza at nights. They called him Rainman and Calculus at MOCCC. But no one seems to know that he failed year eight and changed schools. Failed year ten and changed schools again. Out of this school hopping came an unfathomable mind for stats, and a fierce and biting use of words.

I'm not familiar with the forums, if there's anything I should read can you point me to it?

BTW, Ronnie never married or had kids. He is survived by our mum, three sisters, five nieces and nephews.

Many thanks, Barb.

I'm so sorry to hear it was so sudden

But thank you both for taking the time to come and join BF to post about him when you're dealing with the loss.

You're always welcome to join us here in future to discuss footy, if you're also a fan!

He must have spoken often of BF - he was very, very well respected here

 

[Barbieup]

I'm so sorry to hear it was so sudden

But thank you both for taking the time to come and join BF to post about him when you're dealing with the loss.

You're always welcome to join us here in future to discuss footy, if you're also a fan!

He must have spoken often of BF - he was very, very well respected here

I'm finding that out. We knew MOCCC loved him like a brother and he was highly thought of at work. Unfortunately , I have a memory like a goldfish, as soon as a game finishes I have to watch the replay for all the bits I missed. Thank you.