During his lifetime John McLaughlin was a true believer in three things.
First came the family, and he and Jan, his wife of 54 years, built one of the best.
They were all there yesterday morning at St John’s Evangelist Catholic Church, Campbelltown for the final farewell for their father, grand father and great grandfather. He had passed away a week earlier at the age of 77.
Second came Aussie Rules, or AFL as it is called these days. John McLaughlin, who came to Sydney from Melbourne when the family moved here almost 60 years ago, was so determined his boys would be able to play Aussie Rules he founded Campbelltown’s famous AFL club.
Yesterday, on the day of his funeral, Campbelltown players past and present formed a guard of honour as the cortege took John McLaughlin on one last journey through his beloved Campbelltown.
And, finally, John McLaughlin was also one of the Labor Party’s true believers. In awe of greats such as Whitlam and Hawke, he took it upon himself to do all he could to help local Labor Party stars be successful so they could do good things for Campbelltown.
He was always in the background, never seeking any of the glory of winning elections or the benefit of ministerial appointments.
On the day of his funeral many of them were there to pay their final respects to the great man.
Current Labor MPs Chris Hayes (Fowler), Greg Warren (Campbelltown), Anoulack Chanthivong (Macquarie Fields), as well as retired MPs Andrew McDonald and Laurie Ferguson were all there.
The [Labor] Mayor of Campbelltown, George Brticevic attended the funeral, as well as number of his council colleagues past and present.
There was one former Liberal MP present, but Russell Matheson was also there because he played and coached the Campbelltown AFL club John McLaughlin built.
Current club chief David Bowen, who helped organise the guard of honour, also brought along the trophy the women’s team had just won in the 2020 grand final.
That’s why John’s son and club legend Jamie McLaughlin and Matheson had the trophy included in the photo (below) I took of them at the wake.
Family, footy and Labor – that was John McLaughlin’s holy trinity.
I am not sure if I have got the order of priority right, but it doesn’t matter; the great man certainly would not think so.
Either way, Campbelltown has lost a great man, who would often say: ‘’It’s nice to be important, but it’s important to be nice.’’
