Dr. Rudi Webster’s unique friendship with the late Wes Lofts spanned some 45 years. It was through Wes that the world-renowned sports psychologist was introduced to the then Carlton Senior coach Ron Barassi in 1969.
“I remember it was the summer, the players were doing their pre-season training, and Wes took me up to the club,” Dr. Webster recalled. “I met Barassi and ‘Percy’ Jones and (Alex) Jesaulenko, and from there of course I got hooked on the game.”
Known mostly for his work with the West Indian cricket team and, more recently, the Kolkata Knight Riders as Mental Skills Coach, Dr. Webster’s heart is well and truly with Carlton thanks to Wes. As he said: “I have a very strong emotional contact with Carlton. This is a thing that doesn’t go away. I have worked with other clubs, but Carlton is still my favourite team”.
Now living in Grenada, Dr. Webster noted that with Wes’ death occurring at a time when last drinks were called at Percy’s Lygon Street pub, this was truly the end of an era - “and if the walls to Percy’s pub could talk they’d tell a few tales”.
Dr. Webster, whose time at Carlton took in the Premiership season of 1979 when Wes served as both Vice-President and Chairman of Selectors, this week prepared a heartfelt tribute to his old friend.
An edited version of Dr. Webster’s homage to Wes was delivered at Wednesday’s memorial for the 1968 Carlton Premiership full-back at Visy Park.
But the following version appears in its entirety.
Today we come together at the Carlton Football Club to commemorate and celebrate the life of Wes Lofts. Physically I cannot share this special moment with you because I am thousands of miles away in the Caribbean, but mentally and spiritually I am right there with you because in a real sense we are where our mind and concentration are.
Many pleasing things will be said about Wes the footballer, the administrator, the businessman and the powerbroker. But I would like to utter a few words about Wes the friend. A Buddhist priest once told me that one of the highest blessings in life is a friend with whom we can respond openly, freely and caringly. To me Wes was such a friend. Just a few weeks ago on ABC’s “Coodabeens” program I said that Wes, along with Percy Jones, were my best friends in Australia.
The day after my arrival in Melbourne in December 1969 I received a telephone call from a gentleman who introduced himself as George Armstrong, an administrator of the Carlton Cricket Club. He wanted to meet me and we did so later that day at the Royal Childrens’ Hospital where I had just taken up an appointment.
He brought along with him a young man whom he introduced as Wes Lofts, a Carton footballer. At the time I knew nothing about Australian Rules football. “What are they up to,” I wondered? Apparently, George had heard about me and wanted to grab me before any of the other cricket clubs did. But where did this footballer fit in? I later found out that George was a father figure to him. Soon after that meeting, Wes took me to the club and introduced me to Ron Barassi and his players and it didn’t take me long to get hooked on the game. That initial meeting started a close friendship that has lasted for forty-five years. Even when I left Australia and returned to the Caribbean we kept in touch several times a year but we particularly looked forward to our phone calls at Christmas to exchange Christmas greetings and to bring each other up to date with what was happening in our lives.
The last Christmas call was a sad one because when I asked him how he was doing he told me that he was struggling a bit. He explained that he was having difficulty breathing, was on oxygen therapy, and was contemplating the possibility of having a lung transplant. I immediately realised the gravity of his health problems.
In my first year in Melbourne Wes taught me about Aussie Rules football. But it was the off the field football culture that he exposed me to in the Carlton Social Club and the after match players’ parties that demonstrated his expertise as a very wise and experienced teacher. Even the late Jack Wrout took part in that part of my education.
It was on the golf course that I was given some of my most valuable lessons about competitive sport at Carlton. I learned golf in the USA and Barbados but when I set foot on the Melbourne golf courses with Wes and Percy I was introduced to a new game of golf that was totally foreign to me. These two players were innovative and creative on the golf course, and played by rules, regulations, strategies and methods of scoring that I had never encountered before. The will to win and not to lose to your opponent reached proportions that I had never seen before.
Wes was always playing pranks on Percy at the after match parties and one night a decision was made to reverse that trend. Someone placed two pints of ‘body fluid’ which was laden with alcohol into the petrol tank of Wes’ prized possession, his brand new E Type Jaguar. He left the club at about half past two that morning and was closely shadowed by interested spectators. All went well until the car got to Collins Street when it spluttered and came to a halt much to our amusement. Poor Wes did not know what had happened and eventually had to call experts from I think the RACV who were equally puzzled when they arrived. “How could a brand new E Type Jag just quit like that,” they thought? The car had to be towed away. When the correct diagnosis was eventually made Wes was furious. He never found out who targeted him but he made a list of possible suspects with whom he intended to get even later on.
Wes’ mischievous behaviour was not confined just to Australia. Many years ago he came to visit me in Barbados and every day we went to a famous beach on the south side of the island where there was usually wall-to-wall Canadian tourists. One day we were body surfing and I was beating him in every contest and enjoying the moment. Then all of a sudden, the unexpected happened. I got into a wave and before I knew what was happening Wes pulled my swimsuit off, took it to a far corner of the beach, then came back into the water and said, “Take that, you cheating B.” I pleaded with him to return it but he refused. After 45 minutes I walked out of the surf on to the beach to fetch my swimsuit. In those days streaking was not yet a popular past time. Wes, and I suppose some of the tourists on the beach, thought this was rather a funny sight. And when we got home he took great pleasure in telling my wife the story in great detail.
The late Wes Lofts during his playing days with the Blues. (Photo: AFL Photos)
Well I wasn’t going to let an Aussie come to Barbados and get the better of me, so I devised what I thought was a clever strategy to get even. Next day we went body surfing again. I allowed him to win every contest and then when a large wave came I decided to carry out my plan. We both caught the wave and I immediately grabbed hold of his swimsuit and started to pull as hard as I could but it did not move even one inch. However, I was very determined and fought with him under water. I knew that Wes was very strong but I couldn’t understand why he was getting on as though he was fighting for his life. When we both surfaced, here was I looking into the face of a total stranger, a Canadian tourist. Wes had not caught the wave! The poor Canadian was terrified. He had an angry look on his face and I thought he was going to smack me. Instead, he pleaded, “Have a heart man, have a heart!” He then hurried out of the water, grabbed his towel and went back to his hotel. Wes was in fits of laughter and once more had the last laugh. He then added salt into the wound by asking me what I would have done had the tourist surfaced with a smile on his face?
One other amusing incident sticks in my mind. I returned to Melbourne on a visit during the week of the Grand Final and Wes told me that he would take me to the game but didn’t have a ticket for me. On Grand Final day I reluctantly went along even though Wes assured me that he would get me into the game. When we got to the entrance he asked me to wait while he spoke to the attendant. After a short conversation the attendant gave me a broad smile and asked me to enter the stadium. Wes then said, “We are going into the Members area.” “Don’t be silly Wes. I don’t have a ticket,” I replied. “Don’t bother about that,” he said. He then went up to the attendant in the Members area, spoke to him for a couple of minutes and with a broad smile the attendant welcomed me and showed us to our seats. When I asked Wes what was the conversation he had with the attendants he said, “I told them that you were Wes Hall the West Indies fast bowler and that you were visiting Melbourne for just a few days”. After the game, I tried to sneak out of the place when I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. It was the attendant. He said, “Mr. Hall, may I have your autograph”. I looked at Wes who gave me a nod and a smile and I duly signed the name Wes Hall on the football programme. The attendant then thanked me and asked me to pass on his regards to Mr. Charlie Griffith the other West Indies fast bowler.
There are two things that Wes never forgave me for. The first was leaving Australia to go back to Barbados in 1986 and the second was leaving Carlton to go to Richmond in 1980. Carlton met Richmond in the qualifying final that year at Waverley in a very physical game that resulted in coaches Percy Jones and Tony Jewell throwing punches at each other at the quarter-time break. A few days later, Percy sent me a picture of the fight with the inscription, “All over you, Rudi.” Richmond won the game and then went on to win the Grand Final against Collingwood a couple of weeks later. Your current coach Michael Malthouse was in that Richmond team and probably remembers the incident. Wes was not too happy about what had happened and for weeks after greeted me with just two words, the first of which began with the letter “Y” and the second with the letter “B”.
On the football field, Wes was a master of the distraction technique. He knew how and when to distract his opponents. He said that you had to know what part of your opponent’s body to target in order to break his concentration and get the better of him. One famous Hawthorn full-forward knows exactly what I am talking about because Wes’ strategic bodily attack on him during a Carlton/Hawthorn game almost cost him the masculine tone and quality of his voice.
In our last telephone conversation I told Wes that I had just finished writing a book, Think Like A Champion, which he would enjoy reading because it contained lots of football stories, but I think that he was too fragile at that time to do so.
A Buddhist priest in Sri Lanka once said to me, “There is nothing in this life that we can have for very long. Things and people come into our lives . . . then leave us sad and aching because of our attachment”. This is true, but in my case my attachment to Wes brings me joy and happiness, an appreciation of the wonderful things we have done together, and reminds me of one of the best and most enjoyable periods in my life. Wes was a kind, generous, caring and loyal friend who touched the lives of many people. William James the American Psychologist once said that the greatest discovery of our time is that man by changing the inner aspect of his mind can alter the outer aspect of his life. Wes, my friend you were able to help many people to do just that.
In finishing, let me paraphrase a famous American singer and have Wes say,
I’ve lived a life that’s full
I travelled each and every highway
And more, much more than this
I did it my way
Farewell my brother. I know you will enjoy yourself on the other side but try not to get into too much trouble over there.
My wife Lyndi and I would like to extend our condolences to Anna Bitte, Christopher, Sarah and other members of the family. Sir Wesley Hall the famous West Indies fast bowler has also asked me to pass on his condolences.
