Ron Murray
STATISTICS
DOB:
Career: 1966 - 1968
Senior Games: 44
Reserves Games:
3rds Games:
Senior Premiership: 1966
The only child of devoted parents Bona and Jim Murray, Ron had a genuine love of the Chelsea Football Club and all therein.
Coming through the junior grades he had some difficulty establishing himself as a senior player prior to the 1968 season when he finally managed to gain regular selection in the senior team as a rover.
With the week’s rest during the first semi-final, Ron chose to attend a party in Gippsland with a few of his Chelsea mates. It was here that he made a fatal mistake, electing to prolong his time at the function and get a ride home later in the night with a relative stranger who, co-incidently, came from the Chelsea area.
Tragedy struck in the early hours of the morning when the car left the highway and careered into a creek. The driver managed to get free but was unable to find Ron in the water in the dark. It would be revealed later that he had gone through the wind screen and was lying on the bonnet under just 200mm of water. He had drowned.
The irony of this story was the fact that Ron had received a bravery award some years earlier when he had swum from the shore to save someone from drowning after their boat had capsized.
It was a crushing blow for everyone who knew Ron as he had provided the Club with a constant source of energy and vitality over several years.