On Friday night, Collingwood is reviving an old tradition. And we want you to be a part of it.

When captain Scott Pendlebury calls his players into a huddle in the Ponsford Stand goal square in the minute before the first bounce, our trainers will wave their towels above their heads.

At this moment, it’s your cue to wave your Collingwood scarf, creating a sea of Black and White across the MCG.

Sound familiar?

It’s a tradition inspired by past Collingwood trainers such as Harry Langdon and John MacGibbon, who were loved by players and supporters alike for waving their trainers’ towels above their heads on the boundary line to rally the Victoria Park crowd and inspire the players into action.

The story of John MacGibbon

Every sporting team has its unsung heroes.

But they’re not just the players who take the field.

They can come in all shapes and sizes. And in Collingwood’s case for much of the 20^th Century, it was two men who stood outside the boundary line each week who gave the team inspiration when they needed it most.

Bootstudder Harry Langdon and trainer John MacGibbon raised the roof off the old grandstands at Victoria Park when they would wave their towels along the boundary line.

It would whip the crowd into a frenzy, and the noise from the stands would stir the players into action.



John MacGibbon tends to an injured Magpie.

Langdon, says dual premiership Magpie Thorold Merrett, was ‘mad Collingwood’, and served the club during Merrett’s playing career in the 1950s.

“Harry had a job as a caretaker of the law courts. His job at Collingwood was as our bootstudder,” Merrett explained.

“We would hand our boots into him every training night and then we would go and collect them boots from him on the Saturday. He would have our names on them and if we didn’t ask for them he would bring them to us. He was that sort of bloke.”

Shortly after Merrett’s playing career came to a close, MacGibbon ascended into the role of head trainer, working alongside the likes of Alf and Harry King, Patty Cling, Reggie Smith, Ted Bell and John Wassell.

MacGibbon served in his role for three decades, and helped draw the best out of his players and supporters between the 1960s and the 1980s.

It was a life of service that was driven by one word: Passion.

“John and Helmie (his wife) used to go see Collingwood all the time, and one day he turned to her and said that he wanted to do more for the club,” MacGibbon’s granddaughter, Kate Mackie, explained.

“He found there was a job going as Head Trainer at Collingwood, and all he had to do was go and get a First Aid Certificate.

“He applied for the job, starting in the thirds and making his way up through to the seniors.

“The only qualification he had to get was a First Aid Certificate, that’s it. But he took care of hundreds of players. I was mesmerised when I found that out. These days it would be ten times more (qualification required).”

Mackie’s grandfather’s close relationships was integral to his standing within the four walls of the Victoria Park change rooms, and it was he who the players turned to when in trouble both on and off the field.

“My nan, my mum and my auntie used to sit in the car and wait for John,” Mackie continued, “and one day he brought a player to the car and had to take him to hospital.”

“He was so passionate about his job, so he knew everything about each player, from their injuries to who they were as a person.



MacGibbon served as Collingwood's trainer from the 1960s all the way through to the 1980s.

MacGibbon would go on to serve as a character witness for Denis Banks during a tribunal hearing, while he was on the scene to assist the legendary John Greening when he was felled against St Kilda at Moorabbin in 1972.

His family recalls him waving his famous white towel above his head to fire up the crowd when the Magpies were behind.

“The whole crowd would be on its feet as soon as they’d see him walk out, everyone would just stand up,” Mackie smiles.

“From scarfs to flags to jumpers, anything they had, they waved them around and they really got involved.

“John would come out and wave his towel, and the supporters would be chanting ‘Coll-ing-wood, clap-clap-clap’, and the whole crowd would be doing it until they got back in front and won the game.”

MacGibbon, a war veteran, fell ill and passed away at the age of 64 in 1989. But not before he joined Langdon as a Life Member of the club he loved so dearly.

“Sadly my papa was on his deathbed when he received his Life Membership. It was presented by President Allan McAlister, who came in to see him in the hospital. He passed away hours later.

“He really held on, he was such a fighter. He knew it was coming so he held on to get it.

“He had a few Collingwood players at his funeral, and they also were the pallbearers on the day. He would have loved to see his Pies win another Grand Final, which they did the following year.

“I would say that they did it for him.”



MacGibbon graces the front page of the Sunday Press after Collingwood's Grand Final draw against North Melbourne in 1977.