The Collingwood Football Club has been saddened by the passing of long-time supporter and benefactor Max Kirwan, who died recently aged 96.

Max, of course, was a famous name in car sales, and his Max Kirwan Mazda business has been – and continues to be – a staple of the Melbourne scene since the 1960s.

But Max has an equally long history with Collingwood. A lifelong fan who was born in the suburb, he first came to the club’s aid in the 1950s when helping to find employment at his car yards for Murray Weideman and Ray Gabelich.

In the decades that followed he would go on to be a key member of our first coterie group, the Floreats, and then later on the Woodsmen, the Coventry Club and the Gold Patrons. He also became a friend and mentor to many players over the journey, helping many of them out with motor vehicles, and was an unofficial business advisor to the club who helped set up the famed Coventry House in the 1980s. He was also spoken of as a possible president in the early 1980s.

He was also a presenter on radio station 3AW for 23 years, and was inducted to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his services to his other great sporting love, water skiing.

The Board, management, staff, coaches and players of the Collingwood Football Club acknowledge Max Kirwan’s wonderful contribution to our footy club. Our thoughts are with his family, and all his friends from Collingwood and beyond.

Side by Side.

To read more about Max’s life, read his story as it appears in This Collingwood Life