Wanganui City Football Club stalwart Cameron (Cambo) Mack (bottom row, centre) was a stalwart of the club.
Wanganui City Football Club stalwart Cameron (Cambo) Mack (bottom row, centre) was a stalwart of the club.
Whanganui football stalwart Cameron “Cambo” Mack is being remembered as a ”City man through and through”.
Mack died last week at the age of 62.
He was a key figure for Whanganui City FC during the 1980s.
“The powerful thing that happened with his passing was that I got to relive some memories that were tucked away in filing cabinets in my brain that I hadn’t thought about for a while,” former teammate Tony Henderson-Newport said.
“I don’t think any of us are ready when the news comes sideways to say that somebody you used to play football with, know and bump into at the club is no longer there, but the memories are.”
Henderson-Newport met Mack when he decided to join Wanganui City in 1981 after moving back to the area.
They played in the same team during the mid-’80s and won the league, gaining promotion into the Central League, the highest competition the club have been in.
Mack was a decade younger than Henderson-Newport and was somewhat of a prodigy, playing in the first team as a teenager.
In his glory days, Mack was an intelligent wide midfielder, who orchestrated the play and would fill in wherever needed, including goalkeeper at times.
The late Wanganui City Football Club stalwart Cameron (Cambo) Mack was a prominent figure for the club during the 1980s as a player and later as a life member.
Mack was a major force in the development of the clubrooms after the original building burnt down in a fire.
“That club was built from scratch but it was built by people like Cam doing the hard yards, digging ditches and doing the things that make a clubroom become a clubroom,” Henderson-Newport said.
Towards the end of his playing days, Mack played for the social team and helped former teammate Stephen Hodson run the Wanganui City Thirsties.
“He was extremely talented in his younger days; he had strength and determination,” Hodson said.
Mack was not considered a quick player but had the admirable stamina to constantly run for 90 to 100 minutes every game, he said.
Hodson said he and Mack clicked instantly and could talk endlessly regarding football, cricket and life.
Henderson-Newport said Mack would be remembered as a kind-hearted man, a talented footballer and a legend at Whanganui City Football Club.
“Cam, bless his cotton socks, his whole life, the whole time I knew him, he just didn’t seem to have a bad bone in his body,” Henderson-Newport said.
“He loved his football, he loved being involved with the club and if there was somebody that was going to have a few beers and spend some time with people, it would be Cam.
“Wanganui City Football Club became part of his DNA, he was committed, he was a stalwart of the club and he was a City man through and through.”
Mack was made a life member of Wanganui City in 2006.
Wanganui City are inviting all City old boys and Mack’s family and friends to a celebration of his footballing life on Saturday, May 10 from 1pm in the WCFC clubrooms before watching the men’s 1st team at 2.45pm.
