on ya Grassy - knew it wasn’t all black and red blood in those veins but a little common sense as well. It’s more his contribution to football after his playing days that count. I still reckon the 70/80’s with Peter Landy and Lou Richards was great - these 2 would put the moronic commentators we have now to shame!!!
Personal information
Birth 15 March 1923 (1923-03-15) (age 86), Collingwood, Victoria
Height and weight 170 cm, 73 kg
Playing career¹
Debut 1941, Collingwood vs. , at
Team(s) Collingwood (1941-55)
250 Games
¹ Statistics to end of 1955 season
Career highlights
Collingwood Captain 1952-55
Collingwood premiership side 1953
Collingwood leading goalkicker 1944, 1948, 1950
Victorian representative (3 games, 9 goals)
Post-playing career
Once Richards retired from football he began managing Melbourne hotels of which the most famous was the Phoenix Hotel in Flinders Street. Ever at his side, Edna helped manage the hotel where ‘journos’ from the nearby Herald and Weekly Times were regulars especially on Two-up Tuesdays and for the infamous Phoenix Olympics.
Richards also began a long career in the media, beginning as a sport journalist for The Argus and later The Sun News-Pictorial where he gained the nickname of “Louie the Lip”. He was a very popular commentator on both radio and television with his great mate Jack Dyer. He also appeared on the popular World of Sport program. In the 1990s and 2000s, he made regular appearances on both The Footy Show and the Sunday Footy Show. He is currently involved in handing out sponsors’ prizes and continues to liven up the set with his classic humour and running of “Lou’s Handball”, a handball game between two AFL players. Some running jokes on the show include his send up of Telefunken electronic products.
As a football tipster, Richards was known as a Kiss of Death and regularly backed-up his tips with famous dares: “I’ll cut Teddy Whitten’s lawn with nail scissors” or “I’ll jump off St Kilda pier.”
1972, saw Richards appointed Court Jester to King of Moomba Johnny Farnham; he followed this by becoming King of Moomba himself in 1981.
In 1996 Lou Richards was inducted into the Australian Football Hall of Fame.
In 2004, due to his Greek heritage, Lou Richards was named captain of the Greek Team of Century.
Richards was devastated, in 2005, when his beloved Edna had to be admitted into care with Dementia, “I miss being with my wife all the time. We went down the street together, went to the football together. I haven’t got her now… I go and see her but its not the same.”
On Saturday 8 March 2008, Lou’s beloved wife Edna died. She was 87 years old.
Wikipedia....
