Life Member
Inducted 2012
Hall of Fame
Inducted 2018
- AUFC physio 1990-current (30 years and still counting)
- Physio for 2 teams every Saturday for many years
- AUFC head physio 2004
- Outstanding service award 2002
- Life membership 2012
- Club Letters for Service to AU Sport 2017
- Jo’s resilience has been remarkable, although believe it or not she did once suffer broken ribs in the course of her work with the Chardonnays – when she fell off Rob Calley’s bike after a few too many wines on the annual ‘Tour de Chards’.
- Apart from that minor misdemeanour Jo has been thoroughly professional throughout every one of her 31 years at the club. (And still going)
- Jo is the inaugural female inductee to the Hall of Fame.
- She is a popular, enduring, and most deserving inductee into the Hall of Fame of the Adelaide University Football Club
Sadly Jo passed away on 24th November 2022.
The following eulogy was given by Club President. Michael Dadds at Jo’s funeral:-
I speak on behalf of the Adelaide University football club, aka the Blacks, aka (consistently with today’s evident theme), a social club loosely based around football; where Jo was a reliable constant through 4 decades and 2 Millenia.
Jo was introduced to the club by brother Jim in the late 80’s.
What I mean by that is she answered Jim’s desperate plea and took on the demanding physio role for the “Top Scum”, the bottom team at the club.
The SCUM’s remit is to lose, every week, in order to make the other teams at the Blacks feel better.
Jim evidently didn’t get that memo.
Instead, he brazenly coached the top SCUM to the premiership in 1990, with Jo at his side.
Jo remained a physio at the Blacks even through her illness, right through this season’s final series with her beloved Chardonnay Socialists, the club’s C grade team.
During well over 30 consecutive years at the Blacks, Jo featured as physio in numerous premierships, and shared many memorable moments, fun and joy, with many hundreds of the Blacks family.
The numbers, of course, don’t tell the full story.
Old mate Darien O’Reilly can’t be with us today, but as Darien has noted, it was Jo’s grace under pressure that really marked her out.
She was rarely flustered.
She was solid as, reliable, expert, stoic, and she really cared.
Jo wasn’t much given to extravagant displays of emotion.
So, it was somewhat surprising when she and fellow trainer, Blacks stalwart and great mate Janne Filmer stripped off and joined the boys in the showers after the 96 A1 grand final victory.
I’d suggest Janne was key to this dare, although as Darien also notes, Jo did have a mischievous streak.
Jo also credits Janne with having encouraged her to stay at the club when she was considering giving it away about 10 years ago.
Many premierships later, and having become a pivotal cog in the Chardonnays unique cultural machine, Jo never looked back.
Not only did she tend to the injured, Jo ran the boundary, led the peloton in the many Tour de Chards events, did the goal umpiring, and led the suit and soup days in her wonderfully distinctive red suit.
She did it all with class, panache, and a full-faced smile.
Jo was awarded life membership for enduring service to the Blacks in 2012.
In 2018, in recognition of her singular contribution to the Blacks, Jo was inducted into the AUFC hall of fame.
She was the first and still only woman, the 8th inductee overall, and presently one of only 11 in the 117-year history of the club to have received this honour.
This is testament not only to her dedicated service, but also to the respect and admiration she inspired among the AUFC community, and the esteem in which she is held.
She was truly an exemplar.
A proposal initiated and funded by the Chardonnays and unanimously endorsed by the Executive committee, the AUFC Volunteer of the Year award will – from 2023 onwards – be known as the Jo Richardson award, and will be recognised on a new honour board.
This is a highly valued award, for our club would not exist without its volunteers. To quote from Jo’s funeral memento: “Volunteers don’t get paid because they’re worthless, but because they’re priceless”. This would be a worthy quote for the new honour board.
We hope Alan and Jim and other members of Jo’s family will find comfort in knowing that Jo’s legacy – her incredible enduring selflessness – will be recorded for all time, will be celebrated, and will provide tangible inspiration for all volunteers at the world’s greatest football club; a club made all the greater for Jo’s enormous contribution to it.
Vale Jo, from all your friends at the Blacks. 🖤