Pratten Park Magpies are saddened to advise of the passing of John Donnellan on the 27th of October.
John was 86 years of age.
John was a Life Member (#101) of Western Suburbs DRLFC, a Life Member and Debenture Holder of Western Suburbs Leagues Club Limited (Holman Barnes Group) and a long-term Pratten Park Magpies Member.
One of the many Letters to the Sydney Morning Herald Editor that John wrote.
John, a Solicitor, played a pivotal role representing our Club, when the NSWRL voted to exclude us from the competition in the early 80’s.
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The Funeral Service for John Donnellan will be held at St Peter Chanel Catholic Church, 62 Kingsland Rd, Berala on Wednesday 6 November commencing 10.30 am.
The Pratten Park Magpies Memorial Sash will be presented to John’s Family by our great Clubman and PPM Treasurer, Michael Duke, on behalf of all of us.
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‘Think where man’s glory most begins and ends, and say my glory was I had such friends’. – Yeats.
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TRIBUTE
By Kevin Hammond
I had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Directors of Wests Ashfield Leagues Club for a number of years with John Donnellan and of course, my close association with him at Western Suburbs DRLFC. To reiterate the words of Dr Peter Di Michiel… ‘John was indeed, a true Wests man to the core’! John, of course was extremely proud that his son, Terry had the honour of playing with the Magpies at the highest level. My heartfelt condolences go out to John’s lovely wife Noelene and the entire Donnellan family at this saddest of times.
John’s deeds and his enormous contributions both on a personal and professional level will always be enshrined in arguably, the most important period in the history of the Western Suburbs Magpies, and that was of course the Club’s fight to survive and continue its rightful place in the top tier Competition of the NSWRL in the early 1980’s.
There were many wonderful people who made substantial contributions to the fight for our Club’s survival over an extended period, but none more important than the unwavering efforts of John Donnellan, who was the Club’s legal representative at the time. There have been those who have attempted to assume the mantle of the saviour of the Magpies but with due respect, the one person who drove and orchestrated the fight with the NSWRL was John.
I recall visiting John at his office in Bankstown which at the time was located a short distance from Bankstown Police Station where I was stationed at the time. There was barely enough room to walk around his table due to the voluminous amount of material laying and spread across the floor of his office, all pertaining to the Magpies fight for survival. Put simply without seeking to demean or diminish the efforts of anyone during that tumultuous time, it was John Donnellan, as the instructing legal practitioner and Mr Richard (Dick) Conti QC that saved the Magpies! The battle was fought and won in the ‘halls of justice’, which laid the foundation for the Magpies return to the elite level of the NSWRL competition.
John was never a person to seek the limelight or kudos for anything he did or achieved. He was genuine individual and a man of principle. An example of this was, when as Chairman of the WSDRLFC, I moved a motion to award John the distinguished honour of Life Membership of the Magpies, a fitting recognition that was long overdue. When I approached John regarding the Life Membership, he stated his opposition to the suggestion claiming he was not worthy of the honour. My immediate response to him was John… ‘if you are not deserved of the honour then I don’t know who is’! Notwithstanding, he maintained his opposition so I had to undertake a ‘covert’ operation enlisting the assistance of his family and others to convince him to accept the honour all of which failed to convince him to change is stance. Regardless, we pressed ahead with the formalities of seeking members approval for the awarding of Life Membership to John, which was never in doubt, and at a Wests Ashfield Leagues Club conference dinner involving all of the partners and senior management of the Club, we ‘ambushed’ John during dinner and formally, or more appropriately… informally, made the Life Membership presentation to him which thankfully he accepted… with all the humility and appreciation that you would expect from John Donnellan.
When the Wests Tigers Joint Venture was suggested many years later, John was not overly enthusiastic about the concept, influenced of course, by his love and loyalty to the Magpies. John still maintained a degree of scepticism regarding Balmain, given they joined with other Clubs during what was to become known as the ‘Night of Knives’ or something to that effect. I refer specifically to a General Meeting of the NSWRL, when the decision was taken to exclude both Wests and Newtown from the Competition. He had not forgotten those, complicit in that decision despite his impassioned plea to abstain from such a move. Being a loving Grandfather however, he had to relent somewhat to support his Grandchildren who had adopted Wests Tigers as their team following the exit of the Magpies from the top tier of competition.
John will always occupy a special and extremely significant place in the history of the Western Suburbs DRLFC! Everyone involved with the Magpies, will be forever grateful and indebted to John for saving our great and wonderful Club and thereby preserving our history and enabling the Club to continue its traditions into the future. As they say, MAGPIES FOREVER!!
VALE JOHN DONNELLAN.
MAY YOU REST IN PEACE, YOUR MEMORY WILL NEVER FADE.