In Los Angeles when he heard the sad news, Peter told The
Journal that he and his father had always shared a mutual
interest in each other’s life.
“He was able to be involved with things when I was younger
and of course I got involved with rugby league as I got older,”
he recalled. “And that was one of the great things about
my relationship with him.”
Like most fathers, Laurie had to issue his son some stern lessons, especially when the family’s station wagon became unbearably hot on summer holiday hauls to St George’s Basin.
“In terms of discipline I had my fair share of kicks up the bum,” Peter Doust recalled. “It was my education on how to improve, you could say.”
As the second of only three Leagues Club Managers (1977-86), Laurie Doust was a conduit between the past and present generation, and he talked and walked comfortably among them.
“He was one of that rare breed who could literally walk with kings and keep his common touch,” former Football Club Chairman Doug McClelland said of Mr Doust - quoting Rudyard Kipling - in his eulogy at Kembla Grange Lawn Cemetery.
The Honourable Mr McClelland, a former President of the Federal Senate, said Mr Doust helped make St George before the NSW Rugby League recruited him to its Board in 1986.
“He was one of the few people who was responsible for the outstanding success of the Club right from the start,” the former Whitlam-government senator told The Journal. “He and the Board at that time were part of a body of men who with their collective wisdom read the future correctly and made the
club what it is today: they were visionaries.”
In a more personal reflection, Mr McClelland told the funeral congregation that his longtime mate, who once distributed Hollywood films, belonged in the pantheon of great Australian characters.
“Laurie Doust was a very proud Australian – simply the best,” he said. “He was the great of the greatest of the greatest. He left his imprint indelibly on Australia, on the St George community and on each of us as individuals.”
St George Leagues CEO Danny Robinson served as Club secretary under Mr Doust when he first became Manager. The current Club boss was often referred to as “Boy Wonder” after they were dubbed Batman and Robin because of their 28-year age difference.
“We worked together as a team for nine years,” Mr Robinson said in his eulogy to his former mentor. “During that time the Club prospered and there was never a harsh word or argument between the two of us. We cemented a friendship that I have treasured to this day - Laurie was a man of dignity and
compassion and we are all so much better for having known Laurie Doust.”
Mr Doust is survived by his wife, Peggy, daughters Susan and Caroline and son Peter.
Metropolitan and regional newspapers also published homage
to the Club patriarch:
“He will be remembered as a man of dignity - and the qualities he possessed, along with his unflagging commitment to the Dragons, the community and rugby league in general, were recognised in 1987 with the Medal of the Order of Australia.”
~ The Illawarra Mercury October 26, 2005.
“As a selector and talent scout, he was instrumental in fostering such talent as Harry Bath, Ian Walsh, Bob Bugden and Graeme Langlands.”
~ The Daily Telegraph October 26, 2005.
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