Bereavement

East Perth Football Club wishes to acknowledge the passing of Life Member and former club statistician, John De Leeuw.

John served as a club statistician for 19 years from 1986 to 2004.  

Club historian Bill Forrest has written his memories of John, below. 

I was sad to learn of the death of John De Leeuw.

I first met John at the club in 1982. This was my first year as a board member, and I was the chairman of the Social & Fundraising Committee. John and his wife Lesley together with ten other dedicated club members formed the committee.

The raising of finance by raffles and social events is never an easy task; it is a thankless job and in most cases, the only reward comes from self-satisfaction of knowing you have contributed in helping to promote the club. During the year, we raised in excess of $20,000.00. It is now over 32 years since this committee was formed, but I can still remember what a great group of dedicated club members they were.

John continued to serve on the fund raising committee until 1986. In the same year, he was a member of the newly formed group of statisticians who recorded the players playing statistics at all home and away games. John served every year as a statistician from 1986 to 2004 a total of 19 years.

In 2003, John was made a life member of the club in recognition of 23 years of service.

In civilian life, John worked with Telstra and after accepting voluntary redundancy he branched out into his own business.

Several years ago, we lost contact with John, and this was brought about by the fact that unknown to the club he moved to the Eastern States.

It is always sad to record the passing of a life member. John will be remembered by the many volunteer Statisticians and club members with whom he gave dedicated service to the club over more than two decades.

East Perth would like to extend our sincere sympathies to his wife Lesley and the De Leeuw family.