Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

This Friday at Temora one of the Riverina's best will be buried. Ian Gordon died in his sleep from motor neurone disease last Friday. He packed a lot into his 60 years—a family man first and foremost but also a farmer, footballer and friend to all who knew him. In spite of his illness, Ian had raised awareness of and funds for MND, just like Neale Daniher AO, whose famous Riverina sporting family are no strangers to the old Ariah Park-Mirrool football club, for which Ian excelled over many years. Neale has battled MND for nine years, using his considerable footballing fame to ensure that everyone in Australia knows about MND and the need to find a cure. Neale's brothers Chris and Terry are former APM players and highly regarded in the region.

Ian played for his beloved Brown Bombers as a teenager and right through to his mid-30s. He featured in losing grand finals in 1981, 1984, 1991 and 1996. If ever a player deserved a first grade premiership medal it was Ian Gordon. But it was not to be. Only last week he celebrated 39 years of marriage to Sharon. They have five children, who are grieving, with the close-knit small rural community which has lost one of its finest. Ariah Park is quintessential regional Australia; it indeed is. Ian Gordon was an everyday, knockabout, ordinary good guy who left us too soon. Vale a good mate to so many. May your efforts and those of Neale Daniher fund and find an MND cure soon.

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