Varcoes’ heartbreak
BRIAN Varcoe, the proud father of a talented footballing family, has told of his heartbreak at the loss of youngest daughter Margaret.
The 27-year-old died in the Royal Adelaide Hospital surrounded by family 10 days ago after she sustained a head injury from an on-field collision
The sister of Collingwood AFL star Travis Varcoe, Maggie clashed heads with an Angle Vale teammate in the division two women’s Adelaide Footy League grand final on August 26 at Thebarton Oval.
She walked off but later collapsed in the dressing room.
“I just thought, ‘She’ll be right because she’s fit and young’,” Mr Varcoe, 77, said.
“But then the bad news came.
“The doctor said they did all the tests they could and she was brain dead.”
Maggie was on life support for four days before her family made the heart-rending decision to switch it off.
“I didn’t know what to do. I just left everyone at the hospital and I walked out of the room and cried all the way home,” Mr Varcoe said.
“I took the train and I got off at the wrong station. Everything was a blur.”
Sipping on a cup of tea with a slice of Vegemite toast in the Davoren Park home where Maggie grew up, he said football was always in his daughter’s blood, even though he did not realise at first.
An oval opposite the family home was a green kingdom for the Varcoe children Travis, Yvonne, and twins Adam and Maggie in their early years.
“If there was a football you wouldn’t see them — or other kids from the neighbourhood — for hours,” Mr Varcoe said.
“She’d always be out on the oval kicking the football with her twin Adam and Travis.
“She was really good and she was tough. She’d be into the boys and into the mess up. She never gave up.
“(But) she was smart, too. Maggie won a governmentfunded (opportunity) to present a speech in London.
“She had all the smarts like that.”
In later life, Maggie’s passion — and undeniable skill — for football became too strong to ignore.
She joined North Adelaide’s SANFLW team and was a proud player at Angle Vale, where the No.1 guernsey has been retired in her memory.
Former Geelong player Travis Varcoe will tonight play for Collingwood in its qualifying final against West Coast at Optus Stadium in Perth.
Every player and official in this weekend’s AFL finals matches will wear a black armband in a show of support for the Varcoe family — and for the Sloane family, which is mourning the loss of Rory and Belinda’s stillborn son, Leo.
AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan said the black armband was a way to pay respects and extend deepest sympathies to the two families.
Richmond premiership captain Trent Cotchin raised the idea with the league last week.
Maggie will be laid to rest at a funeral service on Tuesday.