Culture

Dogs Coach Luke Beveridge Will Get A Special Award After Giving Bob Murphy His Grand Final Medal

Give a medal, get a medal.

by Tom Clift  4 October 2016

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This year’s AFL grand final spawned a ton of memorable moments. Kieran Jack’s fearless mark midway through the first quarter. Tom Boyd’s long bomb from outside 50 to put the Doggies 15 points up. The pre-game entertainment not being completely terrible, for a change.

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But out of everything that happened at the MCG that day, the moment that will go down in history came when Bulldogs coach Luke Beveridge took off his premiership medal and presented it to injured captain Bob Murphy. When that happened, it didn’t matter which club you normally barracked for. In that second, you were a Bulldogs fans.

Don’t act like you’re not crying right now.

Since Bevo’s staggering display of generosity, the Bulldogs have formally requested that the AFL strike another medal for him – which does seem to take away from the gesture a little bit, although on the other hand it’s hard to argue that he doesn’t deserve it. Either way though, the Dogs coach will end up with at least one piece of silverware, with the Sport Australia Hall of Fame set to award him their Spirit of Sport award at their annual induction and awards ceremony next week.

“Luke’s actions exemplify the spirit of sport and truly represent many of the values of the Sport Australia Hall of Fame including modesty, generosity and mateship,” Sport Australia Hall of Fame chairman John Bertrand told The Age.

The Spirit of Sport award was introduced in 2005, but is only handed out in special circumstances. Previous winners include surfers Mick Fanning and Julian Wilson, who won after their near miss with a shark in South Africa last year, along with the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which won for…being a really impressive stadium, I guess?  Point is, Bevo will be in some damn good company, and rightfully so.