Lou Richards: Collingwood legend and AFL pioneer dies aged 94

Collingwood football legend Lou Richards, who became a trail-blazing media personality, has died at the age of 94.

The Collingwood Football Club said he was a pioneer, legend and “arguably the first truly transcendent superstar of Australia’s game”.

Collingwood president Eddie McGuire called it a “terribly sad day for the club, the AFL and everyone who loves football” and praised Richards as an amazing man who lived an amazing life.

“He held his own with [American comedian] George Burns and [boxer] Muhammad Ali, he held his own as a performer and as an entertainer on a world level.

“And he held his own on the toughest battlefields of football as a footballer.

“He was just an amazing man who had so much talent.

“You name it, Lou did it and did it with panache.”

Dual Collingwood premiership legend Murray Weideman said as a footballer, Richards was “quite good”.

“He’d score two or three goals every week,” he said.

Born Lewis Thomas Charles Richards on March 11, 1923, he was raised in Collingwood, a Melbourne suburb known for its rough-and-tumble, working-class roots.

His passion for the Collingwood Football Club came through family connections – his grandfather Charles and uncle Alby were both club captains, while another uncle Charles Jr and Richards’ younger brother Ron also played at the highest level.

Richards first joined Collingwood’s senior football ranks as an 18-year-old in 1941.

During a 14-year career as a stocky rover known for his ferocity on the field, he played 250 games and booted 423 goals.

As captain, he led the Magpies to a premiership in 1953, ending a 17-year drought for the club.

But it was in retirement, during a media career that spanned five decades where Richard’s stature in the game grew, and his name became synonymous with Australian Rules football.

He was a regular on World of Sport and League Teams, where his verbal jousting with Richmond legend Jack Dyer and Geelong star Bob Davis earned him the moniker ‘Louie the Lip’.

He also worked as a journalist for the Sun newspaper and on radio, where he was called the ‘Kiss of Death’ for his tipping prowess.

Richards known for his witty, cheeky game commentary

Richards spent years calling “ring-a-ding” games for Channel Seven in a witty and often cheeky style.

He had a knack for dispensing player nicknames like the ‘Galloping Gasometer’ and the ‘Flying Doormat’.

When ‘Lethal’ Leigh Matthews ploughed into a behind post and snapped it in two, Richards cried “Oh, what a he-man!”, a line now etched in football folklore.

He was even credited with coining the phrase “colliwobbles” after the Magpies’ heartbreaking grand final defeat to Carlton in 1970.

After the demise of World of Sport, Richards continued to work on television with Channel Nine on shows such as Wide World of Sport and the Footy Show.

Two-time Coleman medal winner and Magpie legend Peter McKenna described Richards as one of the “first real media stars”.

“Lou was a character. He brought funny to football,” he said.

The club said Richards’ post-footy career established him “at the vanguard of the fast converging fields of sport and media” as a “ground-breaking crossover figure”.

Richards also ran the Phoenix Hotel on Flinders Street, which was frequented by many football and media personalities.

He was inducted into the AFL Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Collingwood Hall of Fame in 2004 and his statue stands outside the club’s Olympic Park training base in Melbourne.

He also received the inaugural John Kennedy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014, which recognises a person’s extraordinary contribution to football.

His wife Edna, with whom he had two daughters, passed away in 2008.