WHEN I contacted Charlie Doig, one of the Riverina's great all-sportsmen, he'd been up on the roof cleaning gutters and was having a cuppa before going out to mow the lawns.
Nothing unusual in that, except "Chooka", as he is known to all and sundry, is 92 and "just coming back again after a bit of a heart op".
The pride of Osborne football and cricket clubs, Doig captained army teams during World War II at both sports and would have joined some of his mates in sporting circles in the big smoke immediately afterwards except "I liked the bush life too much".
Instead he became an inspirational captain and player at Osborne, winning five competition best-and-fairests, three in the late 1940s and two in the mid '50s.
"I was one of those knee-high rover types who liked to go in after the ball," he said.
"I never used to worry about anyone giving it to me."
Good enough to once kick 17 goals in a game, he also had other double-figure bags and in his last game, aged 42 in the 1960 grand final, he notched five.
"I knew I was getting a bit slower and not playing so well, so I gave it up," he said.
He continued to play cricket into his 50s.
Now he still watches as many games as he can on television, cricket in summer and football in winter.
"I've always loved sport, from the time I was 12 and running between wickets for my Dad (Bill), because he was too old to run," he said.
"He'd stand there, hit the ball and call me through."
Doig had first played for Osborne in the 1930s.
Even back then he was known as Chooka.
"I don't answer to too much else," he said.
"Mum (wife Dulcie) calls me Charlie or Charles if I'm in trouble."
Asked the best footballers of his time his memory was unerring: "Definitely Gary O'Connell who also was club president for 30 years, Vince Hogan and, at the end of my time, our ruckman Frank O'Leary who was originally from Adelaide and had coached Culcairn.
"He was by far the best ruckman we'd ever had."
Doig said O'Leary spearheaded the club's 1959-60 premiership double.
"That was a great thrill to finish having won those grand finals," he said.
Doig is a distant relation of the old-time West Australian goalkicking star George Doig who kicked goals by the hundreds and thousands.
During World War II he specialised in mortars and served in New Guinea .
At a shade under 170cm tall, he was never big enough to consistently play in key positions but what he lacked in height he made up in sheer determination and he made a habit of having 30 possession days when no one bothered about kicking stats.
He said Osborne may only be a whistle-stop, but it has produced several league footballers, including Reg Gleeson at South Melbourne and current Saint Adam Schneider, who played in the 2009 grand final.
- Ken Piesse's new football book, The Bears Uncensored, a history of the Caulfield VFA club, is just out and available from the Cricketbooks website.
