Vale Ron Murray aka @LeetoRainestoRoach

[larabee]

I have to echo all the sentiments about LTRTR on this thread.
He was one of those posters who you knew who had written the post without looking at the handle, whether footy or non-footy related.
I would doubt there would be any footy site that would have better stats that he provided to this forum.
He will be missed.

RIP Ron

 

[spook]

His love for the club was evident but his disdain for the AFL administration is what I enjoyed most about his posts. He loved the game and our club but hated those who ran it and for many of the changes they made.

I’ll miss many things he posts (not all, obviously) but who else is going to step up to do the rather meaningless but still interesting weekly average height/weight/age breakdown? I’m not sure it didn’t mean much but I’d look forward to it each week.

Yep, he was a great hater and the AFL was a deserving target.

On the height and weight stuff, that is one area he is actually replaceable. Footywire.com publishes them. Ron's great insight in that realm for us punters was his breakdown of the winning percentage of teams that were 6 months older, 1 year older etc than their opponents. I bookmarked the post and refer to it regularly.

That was his gold. Anyone with a calculator can work out average age and the like, but his records went several steps further to deliver true insight.

 

[IanG]

Sad news, RIP Lee, his contributions will be missed. On football he was incomparable with stats. On non football topics he always forced me to examine my assumptions and biases.

 

[Legends of 2017]

Wow. *smile*!!!
I haven’t posted on here for a while. I lost my dad 3 weeks ago and didn’t feel up to it. I regularly browsed through the site in that time to distract myself. Reading of his sudden passing was a kick in the guts. It felt like losing another member of the family. I felt that Lee deserved some acknowledgement from me. A huge loss. I also lurk on big footy but don’t post there. I saw the thread about Ron passing away but never connected that he and lee were one and the same. My favourite thread there was the stats one where he always seemed to post what to me were impossible stats to find.
On here he was one of my favourite posters. Always came through whenever someone wanted an answer to an obscure fact or stat needed. Outside of his stats, he was always a good read on the other threads. Whether you agreed with him or not , he never backed down and provided facts/stats/links (rightly or wrongly) to back his argument.
His love for our club was never in question.
He has left big shoes to fill.
If any of his family read here, my deepest and sincerest condolence. I feel what you are going through at the moment.

RIP Ron
Vale L2R2R
Goodbye Lee

 

[Baloo]

Yep, he was a great hater and the AFL was a deserving target.

On the height and weight stuff, that is one area he is actually replaceable. Footywire.com publishes them. Ron's great insight in that realm for us punters was his breakdown of the winning percentage of teams that were 6 months older, 1 year older etc than their opponents. I bookmarked the post and refer to it regularly.

That was his gold. Anyone with a calculator can work out average age and the like, but his records went several steps further to deliver true insight.

He was using his own database which is impressive in itself. But the magic of Lee was not being able to pull out obscure stats, it was the ability to use the stats to draw a conclusion, or to know what stats were needed and how to present them to prove or disprove as theory.

Lee was a maestro of the SQL statement. Like a piano player, anyone can learn to play chopsticks or three blind mice, but Lee's performances were the type you would pay to go and see.

 

[Number8]

The anonymity of online forums (important to their function, of course) can be a real curse because it reduces people and their lives to a mere and inconsequential handle.

I've loved learning more about Ron through the postings by his family on Big Footy and some of the stories here. Seeing a photo of him in his element at a cricket match was especially poignant.

Ron's mastery of statistics was quite something. Cricketers live for numbers. The connections now all make sense.

This is a colossal loss to the Punt Road End family. I doubt we'll see his like around here again.

Rest easy, big fella.

 

[Redford]

Ah geez. Ole R2D2 as I used to call him. Very sad news. A PRE mainstay.

Condolences to family and close friends.

 

[MD Jazz]

Yep, he was a great hater and the AFL was a deserving target.

On the height and weight stuff, that is one area he is actually replaceable. Footywire.com publishes them. Ron's great insight in that realm for us punters was his breakdown of the winning percentage of teams that were 6 months older, 1 year older etc than their opponents. I bookmarked the post and refer to it regularly.

That was his gold. Anyone with a calculator can work out average age and the like, but his records went several steps further to deliver true insight.

Yeh, I was going to acknowledge this, it was stark the relationship between experience and winning %. I'd never read it anywhere before LTRTR brought it to attention. He was the stats guru.

Shared a few private emails with him when things got rough on here for him. Underneath he was a very good hearted man.

Crazy how you can feel so sad about the passing of one you never met. Despite firing up I think he genuinely enjoyed the battles he shared on this site.

RIP LTRTR

 

[Tiger44]

A fount of knowledge and information - reliable and consistent - all you can ask for in a person, regardless of their political leanings. Ability to use statistical analysis and manage data was ultra impressive.

RIP LTRTR!

 

[tigerlandishome]

RIP Ron. Thank you for all you have contributed to the best Richmond forum on the internet. It is people like Ron who have helped me reach that conclusion.

Condolences to his family and friends and mates on PRE.

 

[lamb22]

I was surprised at the shock and sense of loss I felt when I found out the news, Many have met on here but I only knew Lee (Ron) through these forum posts.

Ron was a large part of the PRE architecture and an unbelievable stats man. He will be a massive loss.

It was good to find a bit more about Ron via stories on here and Big Footy. It's obvious he was passionate about his tiges, his cricket, his footy knowledge and the game itself.

We had some to's and fro's on some non footy matters but I suppose that's what forums are about. An exchange of views and occassionally on this footy forum some support and sharing of good times and bad in our mutual love (or malady).

Much too young. Condolences to family and friends. He will be missed.

 

[Tenacious]

Can only endorse the comments from basically everyone and give lots of thumbs ups to the great tributes posted here already.

He never ceased to amaze with those stats and it’s a sad loss for all - his real family obviously - his cricket mates - but also for those had a connection via RFC and PRE.

Vale L2R2R

 

[Harry]

Strange feeling being shocked with the passing of someone you never met or even knew who he was. Ron was a genius and PRE won't be the same without him. His stats and his opinions in the general threads will be missed. He was one of very few who wasn't afraid to go against the grain.

RIP Lee.

 

[22nd Man]

Could not post through the tears when I first read this thread in the morning. Barely can now. Bizarre reaction to a bloke I never knew.

Only communicated with Lee in the publics part of this forum. I loved to spectate on his to and fro with those who had the stamina to take him on. He always answered any stat request and then some.

The story about going on the dole to find the punting version of the rosetta stone was a ripper. (reminded me of my colleague in Honours Stats whose project was "is place betting more than profitable than win only") But seems Lee ended up using his statistical talent for good not evil.

His Cricket club mates will send him off in style (a friend of mine who died at similar age and at home alone was treated so well by his club) (wondering if he had any connection with Andy Maher ... old Marcellin, similar era)

 

[TOT70]

I guess we are all feeling a bit sad. like a few others, I had never really understood the relationship between age and experience and success of football teams. When you think about it, it is so blindingly obvious and makes so much sense but Ron was the guy who figured out the true significance of it. To this day, you never hear journos or commentators offer this insight.

He was a master of database querying.

Condolences to his family and friends.

 

[TigerForce]

Strange feeling being shocked with the passing of someone you never met or even knew who he was. Ron was a genius and PRE won't be the same without him. His stats and his opinions in the general threads will be missed. He was one of very few who wasn't afraid to go against the grain.

RIP Lee.

Yeah that's what happens when you spend a lot of years on a forum.

I was hoping this is just a nightmare I had, but no....it's not.

 

[Nico]

I'm shocked. We had some barnys about climate change, but I respected his opinion and his resilience when it seems at times he was being ganged up on.

He's a year younger than me, and we had a chat many years ago about how we both jumped the fence after Roach's 100th goal in 1980. He made it, but a copper stopped me in my tracks.

After seeing his photo, I realise that I have met him many times standing behind the goals at PRE (my favourite place to watch the footy beer in hand and engage in banter). He had a booming voice when he disagreed with an umpire's decision, and was always up for a chat. So weird that after all those years I'd been chatting to Ron.

I always knew when I went to the footy, Ron would be there. He was a constant.

RIP mate

 

[Disco]

My sincerest condolences to Ron’s family and friends.
Didn’t know the man but always enjoyed mulling over his amazing stats.
An incredible contributor to these forums and we will be all the poorer with his absence.
Much respect to his knowledge of the game.
R.I.P.

 

[artball]

I'll miss the Stat tables ... which i guess means missing him ..

R I P

 

[AngryAnt]

After seeing his photo, I realise that I have met him many times standing behind the goals at PRE (my favourite place to watch the footy beer in hand and engage in banter). He had a booming voice when he disagreed with an umpire's decision, and was always up for a chat. So weird that after all those years I'd been chatting to Ron.

Weird thing is I stand there too. I can't remember seeing him but no doubt we stood close together at times.