Vale Dr. Brian Hodgson

Athletics Australia acknowledges the great service to the sport of its Life Member, Dr. Brian Hodgson who passed away on 5 November 2016 after a battle with cancer.

After retiring from his academic work in microbiology in Melbourne, Brian had relocated 12 years ago to Thailand, where he was a member of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Prince of Songkla University until the diagnosis of his illness some six months ago.

Brian served the sport in myriad areas – as an accomplished coach, as a fine administrator, as a highly regarded technical official and as an enthusiastic member of Ivanhoe Harriers.

Brian began coaching in 1973 and was a devoted and effective member of the Australian Track and Field Coaches Association at national and state level.

He was a regular technical official at state competitions in Victoria and when it became popular once again in the early 1990s for officials to travel around the country for national events, Brian was one of the most enthusiastic, capable and regular attendees.

Brian’s skills were quickly recognised, particularly his ability to resolve protests and issues in a methodical manner. He was appointed as a track umpire for the 1996 World Juniors in Sydney and then rose through the ranks to be chosen as assistant track referee for the 2000 Olympic Games and as combined events referee for the Paralympics.

The following year he was assistant chief umpire for both the Goodwill Games in Brisbane and the IAAF Grand Prix Final in Melbourne.

He was elected a life member of Athletics Australia in 1994.

Brian served as President of Athletics Victoria from 1989 to 1994 and in recognition of his services was accorded life membership in 1991. He had been a long serving board member including as vice-president from 1984 prior to assuming the chair.

A fellow former president of Athletics Victoria and now Athletics Australia board member, Anne Lord, readily recalls the extent of his service,

“Brian Hodgson was such a big part of athletics in Victoria for such a long time.

I remember him being very generous in sharing his knowledge and teaching. He taught many of us a lot about officiating and organising cross country, in particular, and was especially encouraging to those of us who served with him on the AV Board.”