Feature Story

THE LIONS CLUB THAT’S CELEBRATING AUSTRALIA’S

SPORTING GREATS

They are achievements ingrained in the Australian sporting psyche … Don Bradman becoming arguably the greatest batsman of all time, Herb Elliott outpacing the best as the greatest middle distance runner of his era, and Shane Warne spinning his way into the record books as the first to snare 700 Test wickets.Thanks to one Lions Club and the amazing collection of sporting memorabilia of one man, Australians can now relive many of these heady achievements.It’s as simple as visiting the Rochester Sports Museum, a Lions International centenary initiative of the Lions of the northern Victorian town.Opened late last year and located at the local railway station, the museum’s intriguing collection includes everything from Test cricketer Adam Gilchrist’s wicket-keeping gloves and one of golfer Greg “The Shark” Norman’s iconic hats to a tennis dress worn by champion Martina Navratilova at the Australian Open and potato farmer-turned marathon runner Cliff Young’s tracksuit.In the more than 4000 exhibits are a blazer worn by Herb Elliott at the Cardiff Commonwealth Games which marked the start of a freak run in which he smashed the four-minute mile barrier 17 times, one of Dennis Lillee’s controversial aluminium cricket bats, a signed photograph of Mark Taylor from when he scored a world record 334 not out in Pakistan, a tracksuit worn by Soviet Olympian Sergey Bubka who broke the world record for men’s pole vault 35 times, and memorabilia from the likes of Dawn Fraser, Merv Hughes, Serena Williams, Bill Roycroft, Debbie Flintoff-King and hundreds more.

Forbsey’s sporting legacyFascinatingly, all this fabulous treasure trove has been amassed by a dynamo of a sports fan, local identity John Forbes, for 22 years the sponsorship manager of sporting goods company Puma.“Forbsey”, as he is affectionately known, rubbed shoulders with the world’s sporting elite, signing up

Forbsey’s mate Bob Knight (second from right) with fellow Lions volunteers outside the museum.

Story by Tony Fawcett

hundreds to the Puma brand – and in gratitude for his advice and friendship they plied him with memorabilia.At first, much to his wife Faye’s occasional annoyance, he stashed these items in any available corner around the couple’s Mitiamo house, until one day he arrived home to find them outside in a skip waiting to be transported to the local tip. They were quickly retrieved by Forbsey.Today he frankly admits that yes, this is “a passion that’s got out of hand”.A few years ago when Forbsey’s career ended because of Parkinson’s Disease, (within six months he was also diagnosed with bowel cancer), many believed his collecting days had ended.The exact opposite was the case. Memorabilia flooded in from the champions.And when Merv Hughes organised a special 2011 cricket match in Forbsey’s honour, cricketers of the calibre of Shane Warne and Adam Gilchrist queued to take part. Although rain interrupted play, it raised $30,000 for Forbsey’s favourite charity, the Blue Ribbon Foundation that honours the 166 Victoria Police members who have died in the line of duty and of which he was a founding member and chairman for more than 20 years.

Finding a homeRealising his collection needed a permanent home, Forbsey started looking around.That’s when his long-time mate Bob Knight, a

Rochester Lion, stepped in, suggesting a museum as part of his club’s 2017 Lions International Centennial celebrations.Initially a pop-up shop in town, it vastly increased in scope when several rooms at the local railway station became available.“The only things that lived in here for 10 years were possums,” recalls Bob Knight proudly standing amidst the exhibits in today’s professionally curated museum.“Our club put in more than 600 volunteer hours painting, plastering and carpeting it before it was anywhere near ready,” he says.“It’s in such a good spot, on the run through town, with good parking and it’s been an excellent exercise for us.”The museum operates with 48 local volunteers, including about 15 Lions working in shifts, and in its first four months attracted more than 1000 visitors.For Rochester, population about 3100, the museum’s success has been a giant morale booster for all following the devastating 2018 closure of Murray Goulburn’s massive cheese-making factory close to the centre of town.

Doing it for ForbseyDespite the museum’s invaluable collections, Bob insists it’s Forbsey and his passion for sports and sports people, and their love for him, that is the heart and soul of this museum.“When we started off here,” he recalls, “our club had to raise money so we had a sports night up at the school gym. Forbsey gave me phone numbers for these people that I should never have had phone numbers for, and I’d ring them and say ‘I’m Bob Knight of Rochester Lions and John Forbes…’ ‘Oh, how’s Forbsey’ they’d interrupt before I could explain further. ‘What can I do for Forbsey?’“And on the night we had 38 top athletes, Olympic champions, AFL captains and players, Australian basketballers and netballers, people from all of these different sports … and not one of them charged a penny. They all came for Forbsey and we made $30,000 on the night.”“Forbsey has such a great rapport with sports people all across the country and around the world, so when they come here they just drop stuff into him.“Greg Norman walked in one day and just plonked

There is memorabilia from practically every area of Australian sports achievement.

John “Forbsey” Forbes, the heart and soul of Rochester Lions’ new sporting museum.

down his hat and signed it.” At the museum’s official opening by Herb Elliott last October, rather than a ribbon to cut Rochester Lions set up a banner through which the world-beating champion would run.“It was quite funny,” recalls Bob, “because before the run-through Herb turned to Forbsey and said ‘you had better run though with me … but just remember, Forbsey, I have never been beaten’.”While it’s taken about $160,000, including a $102,000 Victorian government grant and $14,000 from the Australian Lions Foundation, to set up, Rochester Lions believe the museum is a venture that will swell Lions funds for years to come.Expertly curated and designed by Laura Stedman from Melbourne’s Levoi Consulting and project managed by Rochester Lion Sam Watkins, the club benefitted from the Bendigo Bank agreeing to pick up the $10-a-week rent for the railway station rooms for the first five years of the lease.With the advent of Coronavirus, the museum has temporarily closed but is hopeful crowds will flood in once again once normality returns.

Emotional memoriesFor his part, Forbsey, 79, is delighted his beloved items are being shared and appreciated by others, especially younger generations.“I used to admire so much the people who represented their country,” he says. “Representing your country is the biggest thing you can do in your life.” Every item in the museum, he explains while occasionally shedding a tear, brings back happy memories of the person who gave it to him and what their relationship was.He puts his love of sports people down to when he was six and his father, then in his 40s, suffered a stroke that confined him to bed for two years. In typical country fashion, those in the district, especially sporting clubs and their members, “the glue that holds the community together”, pitched in to help the Forbes family. Forbsey never forgot their compassion and generosity.On leaving school, he moved into sports administration in the Rochester area until the then boss of Puma, Herb Elliott, offered him a job in 1986.Quickly, under Herb Elliott’s tutelage, his admiration for sports people lifted to new heights. “He gave me a bit of advice,” recalls Forbsey. “Don’t just take them as a commodities:

treat them as friends.”A born yarner, today he happily recalls his dealings with the greats, including the time he spotted a young, earring-wearing Shane Warne playing cricket in Melbourne’s St Kilda seconds team and advised his Puma boss they should sign him up.“I went down and watched him for two weeks in the seconds and he just turned the ball that far. And I said to Herb, ‘we’ve got to sign him. He’s fat and he’s got curly long hair and he smokes’. And Herb said ‘can he play?’ I said ‘he can’.”In an illustrious career, Forbsey’s unlikely signing went on to become Australia’s greatest Test cricket wicket-taker, second only in world ranking to Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan.

. Rochester Sports Museum (www.facebook.com/rochestersportsmuseum) is normally open Thursday to Sunday, from 10am-4pm, entry $5 (or by appointment) but has temporarily closed until the Coronavirus subsides.

Below: Just some of the many items on display.

Above: Forbsey’s mentor and former boss Herb Elliott during one of his record-breaking runs.

Below: Forbsey delights in showing young visitors around the museum.

Below: Forbsey checks out just a few of the museum’s more than 400 exhibits.

Above: The museum was professionally curated by Laura Stedman.

Above: Cricket great Merv Hughes is one of numerous sports people who helped in establishing the museum.

Right: Forbsey with boxer Jeff Fenech.

Below: Forbsey is a regular visitor to the museum and inevitably attracts a crowd of admirers.

Below: AFL greats Jason Dunstall and Tony Lockett were just two of the many Forbsey signed up during his career in sports sponsorship.