A proud Ipswich league legend
CHUMMY Wilson was proud of his Ipswich family heritage, proud to be in the mining industry but most of all he was a proud Brothers man.
Chummy was born Colin Simeon but is forever known by his nickname, given as a ‘new chum’ arriving from England a couple of years after the war.
His father was Colin George but was called Joe Wilson. It’s even how he is listed in his official Australian Kangaroos status – Joe Wilson: Kangaroo number 171.
Chummy’s eldest son Col – Colin Joseph Wilson – said Chummy’s father played rugby league in Ipswich before he was selected to play for Australia in 1932.
Other Ipswich players in the test against England that year were Dan Dempsey, Les Heidke and Hector Gee. Joe played three times for Australia.
“Then he got offered a contract to play for Wigan and he ended up meeting a local girl over there and they married and had Dad in 1936,” Col said.
“Then in 1947 the family came back to Australia. They lived in Sadliers Crossing and Dad went to Blair School.
“He went to school with Alfie Langer’s dad Harry and a few other good footballers.”
Joe Wilson, meanwhile, was asked to coach at Brothers, which was called CYMS in those days. He was exceptionally successful, winning premierships there and at West End.
“Then Dad started playing for them and played for them for a long time and he captained them and was named in the team of the century,” Col said.
“He got made a life member of the football club.
“He and Jim Havilland and a few others were instrumental in trying to get the junior rugby league started in Ipswich in 1971.
“Prior to that, I’d started playing at school at Sacred Heart and Dad started coaching at Sacred Heart and he ended up coaching at Brothers in the juniors.”
Not surprisingly, Chummy met his wife Gabrielle on a footy trip in Toowoomba. They married in 1960 and welcomed sons Col, Steve, Dan, and Paul into their life.
He started coaching after Steven began playing and was mainly Danny’s coach in club and school and representative school and club teams.
The family home for most of their 62 year married life was in Merrell Street East Ipswich until 10 months before Chummy died on December 2.
A celebration of his life was held on December 29 at Brother’s Leagues Club in Raceview.
The hundreds at his wake showed how important he was to so many.
“A lot of the blokes he coached were at the celebration, like Mark Cuss and Peter Fuller, Gary Havilland, Johnny Range,” Col said.
“There were a lot of really lovely things said about him so it was great to know that.
“You think of how many teams he coached and how many players and even there were blokes there that dad never coached but he had something to do with them down at the footy club.
“There were blokes there like Peter Johnston and Bobby Van Der Meer, Brian Douglas, Paddy O’Doherty, Skinny McGill.
“He was held in high esteem at the club so if he had something to say, generally they knew it meant something.”
From a personal perspective, the wake gave the family time to take stock of what Chummy meant to them.
“He was our Dad and you look up to your Dad and seeing him like you saw him at the end was very difficult; you want to see him in the best light,” Col said.
“But I’m lucky; we’re from a close family and we all keep in touch and we all bind around each other. So it’s a good thing.”
Away from football, when he was growing up, Chummy and a couple of his mates joined the Currumbin Vikings surf club and they used to hitch-hike to the Gold Coast every weekend.
Col said his dad worked at the railways until he started Grade 1 and Chummy finally got his drivers’ licence so he could drive to work at the mines at Box Flat.
“He was there up until when it blew up,” Colin said. “He was due to start the day shift at seven the morning it blew up. So he was lucky. And because of it blowing up, he ended up moving to New Hope Colliery out at Swanbank.”
After he retired from New Hope, he ended up working at the railways again and he and Gabrielle had a couple of trips back to England to visit some of his relatives.
Mrs Wilson still goes to Brothers every Wednesday to catch up with her mates.
