FATTY’S EARLY MENTOR: ‘MR LIND’

A host of future stars in both rugby codes graduated to the senior ranks under the expert tutelage of Wests Mitchelton legend, 85-year-old Ray Lind.

Ray, a former brickie, with a knack for bush poetry, hasn’t got a bad word to say about any of the Internationals or State of Origin stars who came under his spell.

“They’re all good blokes,” he says of the likes of League Internationals, Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin and John Ribot; Queensland Origin back, Michael Hagan and Wallabies, Ben Tune, Greg Martin and Michael Flynn.

But ‘Fatty’ has a special place in Ray’s heart.

“Paul was a joker, even back in the junior days,” he said. “I played him in the centres, which Leila (Paul’s mum) hated. She was always telling me he should be in the second row.”

Vautin described Lind as a ‘genuine, heartfelt man’, who was protective of his players, and always had a positive attitude.

“He was fantastic for us young blokes,” Vautin said. “We all enjoyed playing under him, and we learnt a lot. His halftime addresses were uplifting. He never scolded us, no matter what the situation.”

Vautin started in the under-8s at ‘Mitchy’, and was coached by Ray in the under-12s and 13s. ‘Fatty’, a student at league stronghold, Padua College, had a short stint with the nearby Brothers’ club, before returning to ‘Mitchy’.

Late in the 1977 season, Wests’ Panthers First Grade coach, Ron Raper, watched Vautin play for ‘Mitchy’ and invited him to play reserve grade for the Panthers in a match against Valleys at Neumann Oval.

“After the Reserves, Ron put me on the bench for First Grade, and I got 20 minutes when Bob Green came off injured,” Vautin said. “When I ran on, I went to pack down and the other second rower (Rod Bradshaw) looked at me and said ‘Who the fuck are you?’. That’s how far out of left field my selection was. I started the year in the juniors at ‘Mitchy’ and finished in First Grade in the BRL.” 

Ray Lind’s father, Frank; Tom Purtell and Nev Blair were the founding fathers of the Wests Mitchelton club, in 1957. The ground was located on what was known as Bell’s Paddock, a former Army camp and trotting track. Rugby League shared the facility with soccer for a time, before the round ball code moved to its own ground.

Most of the original ‘Mitchy’ players came from Mitchelton High, with the first teams in the under-14 and under-15 grades.

Ray Lind started coaching at ‘Mitchy’ in 1962, and did that for 27 years, before going on to manage Brisbane representative sides. His father played First Grade for Wests in 1936, but then finished the season at Charleville in Western Queensland because of work opportunities. As a player, Ray won a Third-Grade title with Wests in 1959, but then played at Mundubbera in the Central Burnett, when work took him there. In 1962 he took up coaching at ‘Mitchy’.

During his time at ‘Mitchy’, Ray often helped legendary Broncos’ talent scout, Cyril Connell.

“Cyril was keen to know what players were like when they were in camp with the representative sides,” Ray said. “He wanted boys who had a good home life. He didn’t want to sign nitwits.”

Ray is a Life Member of the Brisbane Juniors and Wests Mitchelton, following in the footsteps of his father who was made a Life Member of the QRL, and the Juniors. Frank Lind was President of the Brisbane Junior Rugby League for 17 years, and is credited with starting the ‘Minor League’ for the younger age groups. The Lind’s Brisbane home was at Enoggera, the suburb next to Mitchelton. Samford, to Brisbane’s north west, is where Ray calls home now, living in a farm house that belonged to his late wife’s family.

“She was a Mcdowall, and her parents grew mainly pineapples and bananas, which were transported to the Roma Street Markets in Brisbane by train” he says. “Samford was once Queensland’s biggest banana growing area. We had two children (Gavin and Karen). I had left school at 14 to become a brickie, a trade I worked in for over 50 years. I helped build the Kingaroy Post Office and St Mary’s Convent in Kingaroy.”

Ray had a lot to do with Men of League in its early years, given he was great friends with Foundation stalwarts, Life Member, Ron Atkins and Ron Raper, who had Wests Panthers’ backgrounds.

A passionate Broncos’ supporter, one of Ray’s favourite players is Alex Watson, from the glory days of Brisbane club football.

“Alex played for Wests and represented Australia in the 1950s. He was a wonderful player,” Ray says. “They called him ‘The Phantom’, because you never knew when you had him.”

What does Ray think of today’s football? “I like watching it, although there is too much reliance on strength. I loved rugby league when it was played under what Duncan Thompson called ‘contract football’, where the ball would be sent backwards and forwards across the field until a gap appeared, and players were always looking for support. But I love the athleticism of today’s wingers, the way they can score tries from impossible positions.”

Ray supports the Broncos, but his favourite winger is Melbourne Storm’s Test star, Xavier Coates, because of the grace of his running style, and his prowess in the air.

Ray doesn’t get to the football these days, but is active as a volunteer at Samford Museum, along with the likes of QRL Historian and Ned Kelly tragic, Paul ‘The Ferret’ Hayes; Dave and Bev Campbell, Nigel Cox, Bernadette Muggeridge and Greg Kimber. Nigel Cox, a Wests’ historian, was coached by ‘Mr Lind’.

Ray recites bush poetry for visiting groups, while wearing a swaggie’s hat. He also has recited his poems for community groups in Samford, such as the CWA.

Every now and then someone will walk up to Ray and say, ‘Hello Mr Lind. You coached me at ‘Mitchy’.”

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