Dear Colonel Winsome Merrett and Collingwood President Jeff Browne,

When I was a child my dad took me to the footy at Victoria Park and other suburban Melbourne Grounds almost every week.

My favourite player then was Barry Price who wore number 5.

He was a magnificent exponent of the stab pass and drop kick and had reaction times in packs and when in danger of being tackled that were the equal of modern players. And he could find space like Scott Pendlebury.

On Xmas Day last year at the Magpie Nest, I got to talk with Nathan Buckley, another great number 5 for Collingwood , and with Mason Cox (number 46) about Barry Price and Jack Frost (number 45), who was a guy who seemed to me to win nearly every contest when he first started playing.

I have used a photo I took of Jack Frost to celebrate the triumph over fascism when the allies defeated the axis powers in in 1945. On the day that I took this photo I told Jack that his number was very historically significant and suggested that he keep the number if he could. When his career took him to Brisbane he continued wearing number 45.

I told Mason and Bucks about this photo, which was accepted into an art display of mine in the heart of President Jokowi’s world in Indonesia.

Mason said that he had been buddied with Jack Frost when he came to Collingwood because they had adjacent numbers, 45 and 46.

And, as I recall, when I asked Bucks who would be a good person to be a focus for WW2 commemoration at Collingwood Brisbane games or elsewhere, Nathan said “Frosty’s the one.”

Since that time requests by me for discussion of how to follow up on this through a couple of people at The Magpie Nest have been ignored. Perhaps it was above their paygrade.

In addition, I am extremely disappointed that it seems to me to have become impossible now to watch Bucks on Fox Footy at The Magpie Nest.

People cannot solve problems if they do not discuss them.

I call that communication Living In The Word.

Colonel Merrett and President Browne, can either or both of you busy people make time to talk with me?

Sincerely,

Geoff Fox, 30th May, 2022, Melbourne, Australia