Qld: Brisbane sends off Broncos founder

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2001
Qld: Brisbane sends off Broncos founder

By Wayne Heming

BRISBANE, Feb 1 AAP - Businessman and Brisbane Broncos co-founder Paul "Porky" Morgan's
funeral was in many ways like his life - a big scale production.

Brisbane's biggest cathedral could not hold the members of the business, entertainment
and sporting fraternity who today farewelled one of Australia's great characters.

Morgan's legacies to the country included the famed Crocodile Dundee movie and reigning
NRL premiers the Broncos.

But, as his tearful daughter Sarah told an estimated 3,000 mourners spilling out of
Brisbane's St John's Cathedral, all her Dad would want was for everyone to have a "beer
or a wine" in his memory.

"Dad, I know, would want today to be a great celebration of his life," she said.

"So please join us for a drink at the Broncos or, as Dad would have it, a few scotches,
a fair few beers, a bottle of wine and a couple of ports."

Morgan loved a drink with his mates and he loved to win and he played hard.

But he also had a side to him that earned widespread respect.

The father of five was often portrayed by those who knew him mostly by reputation as
a rough, tough, mean negotiator.

He was. Just ask anyone who dared get in his way.

But Broncos coach Wayne Bennett, who recalled in his eulogy how Morgan arrived on his
doorstep one chilly Canberra morning in 1987 demanding he coach Brisbane, painted a softer
picture.

Bennett described his 54-year-old mate as "larger than life" and "fiercely determined,
passionate, strong, intimidating, loyal, generous and humble".

"I asked him what he was doing in Canberra and why he had this big port?," Bennett
told the congregation.

"He said" 'You keep rejecting my offers to coach the Broncos so I'm staying at your
home until you say yes'."

Four hours later, with a headache from listening to him talk, Bennett went on a run
and decided to take the job.

He said Morgan, who died while playing golf at Royal Queensland last Friday, was the
only person who could have convinced him to walk out on Canberra.

Like Morgan, Bennett displays a different public persona.

Together this odd couple forged a working relationship which produced great success
and an even greater friendship.

Morgan disliked losing.

On some Monday mornings after a loss or a bad performance from his players, he'd ring Bennett.

As Bennett recalled, the conversations with Morgan went something like this:

"Wayne, hello - Porky. 'Those bastards, they've let you down again'.

"I would explain that was not the case.

"Then he would say: 'If anyone is giving you a hassle, just tell me. I'll handle them'."

That was the Morgan way, he always wore his heart on his sleeve.

Morgan's philosophy was not to take life too seriously and he lived by that rule.

He'd often remind his five children: "You are here for a good time, not a long time".

One of his great joys was giving people he met, even briefly, and those who worked
for him nicknames.

Everyone called him Porky or Pork and he loved it.

"It was his imperfections that I loved most about him," said Bennett.

"It's said a man's character can be judged for what he does for others who can do nothing
for him.

"It's what made Porky Morgan one of the great characters of our time."

Morgan is survived by his wife Suellen and children Paul, Sarah, Fiona, Jane and Lachlan.

AAP wh/sc/cjh/sb

KEYWORD: MORGAN NIGHTLEAD (WITH PIX)

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