For thousands of people who passed through the front gate at David Taylor Park, Doug Thomson was the amiable presence who greeted them.
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Even when he was unwell during his long battle against cancer, he would work the gate, said Jason Leonard, the Werris Creek Magpies chairman.
Sadly, Thomson died on November 19, 2023. He was 67.
"It's an important job. Who wants to work the gate?" Leonard said. "But when you've got blokes like Doug, that wanna truly go and do it, then that's how the club runs.
"Everyone needs a Doug in their club, and people like him, for the clubs to operate."
Unlike Leonard, who played senior footy for the Magpies, just like his father Trevor and his sons Zack and Riley, Thomson was not a Werris Creek Old Boy.
"I can't remember when he started ... but at least 10 years - probably longer," Leonard said of Thomson's association with the club. "As long as I've been involved tightly with the club, he's been involved in some shape or form."
"I don't know if Doug was born and bred Werris Creek, but he's certainly been around [town] at least 20 years," Leonard added.
"[But] he's got no real ties with the club. Like, he never played or anything. He's only been involved as a volunteer."
He was not a Magpies Old Boy, but Leonard said Thomson's devotion to the club made him "100 per cent" reliable.
"And that's the thing with blokes like Doug who are volunteers, we don't have to chase them: we know they're good. We know they're there, and they turn up," he said.
Douglas James Thomson stared cancer in the eye, Leonard said, and he would be "deeply missed".
The retiree, he continued, "had a real battle with cancer - we all knew that".
"[But] even when he was sick, he worked the gate. That didn't stop him," Leonard said.
"We've just got a lot of sympathy for [his] family, and the pain they're going through at the moment. No one likes to see what Doug had to fight, but he really fought a strong battle."
In the notice for Thomson's memorial service at the Werris Creek Bowling and Tennis Club on Friday, December 8, he is described as the "companion to Wendy (Cher)".
Leonard said Wendy was "a bit of a celebrity around Werris Creek" because of her likeness to Cher. She and Doug had "been together for a lot of years".
Vale Doug Thomson.
Mark Bode
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
I’m passionate about writing stories that resonate with people. And I’m genuinely interested in the people I interview; I want to know about them and present their stories in a meaningful way.
