Updated
Hundreds of people gathered in Darwin today to pay their respects to one of Australia's most famous sporting patriarchs and champion Northern Territory footballer Jack Long Senior, who lost his battle with dementia and prostate cancer last week.
Mr Long died at Royal Darwin Hospital on July 9, aged 84.
He was the father, uncle and grandfather to some of the AFL's giants, past and present.
They include his son and Essendon great, Michael Long, grandson Cyril Rioli Jr, and the young Jake and Ben Long, who currently play for Essendon and St Kilda respectively.
A footballer himself, Mr Long was a life member of the Northern Territory Football League and clocked over 200 games and three premierships with NTFL club, St Mary's.
Veteran sporting broadcaster Charlie King said Jack Long jumped onto the Territory's football scene in the 1960s and commanded respect on the football field.
"He was one of those really hard footballers, a tough man and most people respected him for that but he was always fair and played the game in the right spirit."
But Jack Long was also known as a "beautiful soul" who was central to the wider Long family and his descendants remain prominent members of the Northern Territory community.
Jack and his late wife Agnes raised seven sons and two daughters and now have many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
"He left behind this family dynasty of sportsmen and women and that's been great," King said.
"There was always this soft rivalry between the Longs and the Riolis over on the Tiwi Islands which was always interesting, but the two families really respected each other."
"Australia looked upon them as being just great people and Jack epitomises what a good person is."
And his presence both on and off the football field in his later years was always a precious link to the days of old Darwin.
"As long as he was there, we always felt we had a connection to the great past where he came from and that's gone now," King said.
Jack Long was the embodiment of what constitutes a true Territory story, he was a member of the stolen generation and created a lifetime of memories while hunting, fishing, playing sport and raising his family on the Tiwi Islands.
He also was an experienced bushman who worked throughout the Territory's vast and remote bushland with the NT Survey Teams.
Topics: australian-football-league, sport, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, community-and-society, darwin-0800, nt
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