My Best Mate
Club Statistician Malc Clarke has led the tributes to colleague and friend Gordon
Gordon, 73, passed away at the weekend following a short illness. He served the Wigan club for over 30 years alongside long-time friend Malc.
Taking up their story, Malc said: “Gordon and I started with Wigan back in 1983 watching the then Under-19s who were called the Colts back then. We’d go both home and away and loved every minute of it. I used to donate a trophy for the player of the season at the end of each year too.
“In 1987 Terry Cassidy who was a former a player asked us if we wanted to get involved and do the stats for the A team. We were quite nervous about it to be honest but agreed to it nevertheless.
“Two years later as John Monie arrived, Graeme West asked if we would do the stats for the First Team and that was that.”
The pair have assisted the First Team ever since and seen many coaches come and go, hundreds of players don the Cherry and White shirt and many a trophy lifted.
Malc continued, “The amount of highs and lows we’ve had together has been quite unbelievable. In the early days we were just amazed by the whole experience. We couldn’t quite believe that we were on the First Team coach with the most famous Rugby League team in the world.
“At the end of the day we were just two avid supporters who had stood on the terraces at Central Park for many years. Just recently I remember speaking to Gordon, we were reminiscing and said ‘how on earth did we get this chance?!’
“I’ve kept records on Wigan since 1972 and during my early days had to miss a few of the games because of work commitments. Gordon hardly missed any. The Grand Final was my 962nd covering Wigan and Gordon would have definitely hit 1000 games either late last season or early this season. I’m delighted about that.”
Players, past and present have been offering their own tributes to Gordon on twitter.
Greg Burke wrote, “very saddened to hear that Gordon Melling one half of the stats men at Wigan has passed away. My prayers are with his family.”
Josh Charnley posted, “R.I.P. Gordon. True legend, will be sadly missed.”
Willie Isa added, “R.I.P. Always had great chats with him on game days. He’ll be missed by all.”
And Michael McIlorum wrote, “RIP Gordon. Always greeted me with alreet Maccy! Great guy and always smiling, thanks for all the support mate.”
Collectively, the duo worked over 2000 First Team games for Wigan and seen approximately 1,400 reserve/academy games.
Gordon and Malc worked 33 finals for Wigan witnessing 24 wins, seen the team finish top of the table on 11 occassions and crowned World Club Champions twice.
The pair have seen 223 players make their debut for Wigan and worked alongside 14 Head Coaches. They also assisted the Great Britain team on a couple of occasions.
Both Gordon and Malc were honoured by the Club just last week when the pair won the Peter Higginbottom Recognition Award.
Gordon’s funeral will be held at Longshoot Church of Christ, Scholes - 11am on Friday 21st October then 12:30pm at Wigan Crematorium before returning to church for refreshments.
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