House debates

Thursday, 10 August 2017

Statements

Murray, Mr Les James, AM

11:27 am

Photo of Peter KhalilPeter Khalil (Wills, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I am very glad to speak to this condolence motion and have the opportunity to add my remarks to those made in the House yesterday by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in honour of my dear friend, my close friend, Les Murray, who passed away on 31 July at the age of 71. I got to know Les while I was working at SBS. We became very good friends, forging a bond over our shared passion and love for football. It was that passion for the world game that introduced Les, or as we fondly came to call him, Mr Football, to the nation.

Les was born on 5 November 1945 in Hungary, as Laszlo Urge. At an early age he began to play football, and he dreamed of playing the game professionally for the famous Hungarian national team—the mighty Magyars—the golden team of the 1950s, but with the Soviet invasion of Hungary Les escaped to Australia as a refugee. His migrant story inspired him to become a passionate advocate for multiculturalism in this country and it gave him such an opportunity. He once said:

As a refugee who came here with nothing, I am very grateful to this country for the opportunities I have had. Refugees, perhaps more than other immigrants, are more likely to make a positive contribution to their new country, driven by a need to give something in return for being given a chance to start again after a terrible experience.

As Les's family settled in Australia, Les began attending high school in Wollongong—in the seat of Whitlam, actually. He spent much of his time in Wollongong arguing the merits of football, or soccer as it was called then, with his rugby-mad classmates. I would love to have seen those arguments.

In 1971, he took a job with John Fairfax and Sons as a journalist on the Sydney Sun and then he joined Network 10 in 1977 as a sports commentator. He finally joined the newly-created SBS in 1980. It was said to be a chance meeting in an office hallway at SBS that gave Les the opportunity to go from being a part-time Hungarian subtitler, which is what he was doing at SBS at the time, to becoming the face and the voice of the fledgling station's commentary of the world game. In fact, Les was said to have coined that term, 'the world game', which later became the name of the SBS football program he hosted and the title of the book he published.

The nation will best remember Les as one of the best sports journalists that this country has seen. He was a superb, professional broadcaster. He was really the best of his generation. He was a trailblazer and a driver for the world game in Australia.

Les was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006 for his services to football. His family, of course, and his friends remember him as a loving partner, a loving father to his two daughters, a loving grandfather and a wonderful mate. And I have been so fortunate to be able to also call Les a mate, and I will miss him so much. I will miss his irreverence, his wit, his infectious laughter and his passion for and knowledge of the game that he loved so much—the game he raised, with his best mate, Johnny Warren, over 24 years in partnership. They raised it together to such magnificent heights of shared passion, which they shared with their fellow Australians.

I am grateful for the knowledge and the wisdom that Les shared with me in the time we spent together and the laughter I enjoyed from his very often salty humour. I was also very fortunate to be in Brazil with SBS when I was working there—the home of the 'joga bonito', the beautiful game for which Les was so passionate—for the last World Cup that he commentated. I shared many caiparinhas with him in Brazil. We spent a lot of time together, and I was proud to be able to raise a toast to his career in an official capacity during that very historic last broadcast that he gave from Rio.

I know his other mates such as Craig Foster—'Foz', his co-presenter at SBS—Ken Shipp, the head of sport at SBS and all his friends at SBS will miss him so much. My thoughts are with them all. I know he was such an important part of their lives. They should know that he was an important part of this nation's life, and not just the football community but the whole nation mourns his passing. Labor leader Bill Shorten last week, when he led the call for a state funeral for Les, said:

Les is a national icon who did so much to grow the world game and to champion multicultural Australia. He deserves nothing less than the full symphony of tribute and respect. … I can think of few people as deserving of this high honour.

I am so glad that the New South Wales government and Premier Berejiklian made the decision to offer Les's family a state funeral, which they have accepted.

This coming Monday, family, friends and all those who loved him will pay tribute to Les's life at the state funeral in Sydney at Saint Mary's cathedral. Guests are encouraged to wear white in honour of a multicultural world. I will be there to say farewell to 'Lesamundo', my friend. I want to thank you, Les, for all you've done for football and for the people you've informed, delighted and entertained over a wonderful life. Vale, Les Murray. May you rest in peace.

11:33 am

Photo of Maria VamvakinouMaria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I was deeply saddened to hear the news last week of the passing of 'Mr Football' himself, Les Murray. Today I want to make a contribution as not only the co-chair of the parliamentary friends of SBS but also the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Multiculturalism, but mostly I want to make a contribution as an avid fan of his work and legacy. It would not be an overstatement to call him an Australian icon. 'Mr Football' always insisted on calling soccer 'the beautiful game'.

I recall his presence at the annual Harmony Day friendly exhibition soccer games, which were played here between SBS and the politicians. They were, of course, anything but friendly sometimes, especially when the SBS squad underestimated the ferocity of the politicians' side. These games were played on a Thursday morning on that peculiar oval-shaped pitch on the Senate side. Les Murray was ever present, as always at any occasion that promoted football or soccer. He bestowed always the virtues of the game by bringing together people from all walks of life.

I recall a particular Harmony Day game in 2013 when the then Minister for Sport, and captain of the pollies' team, Senator Kate Lundy, who was about to go into a 50-50 challenge with Les Murray, was alerted to some hazard by my husband, Michalis, actually, who was playing as a marquee defender for the pollies' side. She was alerted and as ‎Michalis yelled out, 'Watch out for the Australian icon,' everyone responded, 'Which icon?' as they looked around. The truth was they all knew who the icon was. That was the presence of Les Murray on the soccer field.

Les was a tireless promoter and advocate of football. We have said that on many occasions. He was the voice of the world game in his adopted home, Australia. He will always be remembered as a true Australian sporting icon. He captured the hearts of lovers of the world game here in Australia with his encyclopaedic knowledge of the sport and his passion for every heroic victory and every devastating defeat. But it was his work in integrating migrants into Australia through football and making the world game Australia's football that I want to remember today. Les arrived in Australia as a young refugee from Hungary and a war-torn Europe. Because of this, he spent his life advocating for the rights of migrants and refugees. Outspoken and brave, Les fought for the protection of and justice for refugees.

The role Les Murray played in developing football in Australia and making it part of our mainstream sports should never be underestimated. It was Les Murray, alongside Johnny Warren and other sports commentators, such as Andy Paschalidis, George Donikian and, more recently, Craig Foster that gave football its voice in Australia. I remember spending many Sundays sitting with my family, and Les would beam into our living room through his SBS TV footy show, The World Game, as it was known. I distinctly remember that I felt very proud that here was a person who spoke impeccable English with a 'woggish' accent. It resonated with me because he spoke just like my family and my neighbours. Of course, there was nothing to be ashamed of or to hide from. Having an accent should not impede you from being heard and partaking in public speaking in mainstream Australian TV. When he occasionally had the opportunity to show his prowess in other languages, I marvelled at the way that he crisscrossed and fused other languages with his English. He did it so beautifully. I think it was a real reflection of the multilingual nature of this society of Australia. I remember thinking how fabulous English sounded with an accent. Les Murray made it cool to be ethnic. With football, he gave all migrant families a tool to feel proud, a vehicle to integrate with a sport that they could all excel in. I have seen that happen even today with the juniors and young kids in my electorate—that sense of pride that they are very, very good at playing this wonderful, beautiful game.

Together with others, Les made this 'wog game' mainstream. But even when soccer became acceptable, respectful and chic, Les always paid homage to its humble origins from the ethnic migrant communities and clubs—the South Melbourne Hellas soccer club, the Melbourne Knights in my electorate, Adelaide Juventus, Hakoah, Marconi, APIA, Sydney Olympic and so many others.

Les Murray's legacy continues today through his children, our children and everybody's children who have turned the world game into Australia's football. My condolences go out to his family, including his wife and two daughters, his friends, his colleagues at SBS and beyond, and the football fans and sporting community who are indeed mourning the loss of this monumental Australian sporting icon.

Photo of Steve GeorganasSteve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

Don't forget the West Adelaide Hellas club in South Australia!

11:39 am

Photo of Matt KeoghMatt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I also rise today to add my remarks to this motion of condolence at the passing of Les James Murray, AM, previously known as Laszlo Urge. I want to join the remarks made by the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition, and my colleagues who have also spoken at this sad passing. For myself, my experience is not one of having some intricate involvement in the world game or having some intricate and detailed involvement or past history with Les, other than this: when I was a young child my dad introduced me to the great sport, as we called in the very early eighties: soccer. Dad used to play that sport. I started to play down at Armadale City with my friends from primary school. We would watch the world game on television. I still have a particular recollection of staying up really late one night to watch the FIFA 1990 World Cup. Every weekend, or as many as I could muster, I would have to specially tune the television so that we could get channel 28 reception. It was grainy—it would usually only come through in black and white—in the hills area around Perth. We couldn't get good SBS reception when I was growing up, but we could delicately tune the television and eventually bring it onto SBS and watch the world game. That is where I learnt not just about soccer, but came to know Les Murray.

To me, to all my friends and I'm sure to many people in this country, he was not only the voice but the image of soccer. He was synonymous with the world game for all of us growing up and now, more recently, watching the game on television and learning about it. That's where I moved from being a child who loved running out on the park on the weekend. I'm not saying I was very good, but I was definitely enthusiastic. It was much like my dancing, as my wife would say. From an interest in playing the world game, in running out with my mates on to a pitch, it took me into a love and a joy of understanding the game, of understanding how the game was played around the world, seeing the differences and being able to observe and understand it. It is Les who brought that to Australian television screens and to my generation. It's how we learned to play the game, because it was the only show going around that brought that to us.

Of course, I love AFL, I love rugby, I love rugby league. In fact, if there is a sport and a ball and you have to get it from one end of a field to another, I will play it and love it. But the elegance of the world game is undeniable. Les taught that to me and to so many others in this country. It took me through high school, playing football there. I even graced the senior team as the goalkeeper. It's something that has then turned into a joint love for my wife and myself. One of our first trips abroad was to Europe. We got to watch the Socceroos play Brazil in the 2006 World Cup. On further trips through Europe we have watched football games, including on our honeymoon in Barcelona.

Those unique experiences, that love and understanding of the game, was brought to me, as it was to so many, by Les. There's so much more that can be said and has been said. I don't think I can do any more justice than those comments that have already been made. So I won't try and repeat them with a litany of Les's history and individual contributions to the game, other than to make this observation, which I think has not been made hitherto. Not only was Les Murray the master of the world game and the voice and image of the world game in Australia; he was also featured in the Vaudeville Smash song Zinedine Zidane, which everyone should google on Youtube and watch to see just how eloquently he can pronounce so many difficult to pronounce—for Australians—footballers' names. It's a beautiful piece of music. It's elegant and I think it's often over looked in the discussion of Les's contribution.

In closing I pass on my condolences, and the condolences of the people of Burt and all of my friends, the people that I grew up playing soccer with. Les was such a big part of our lives growing up. Our condolences to his family. Vale Les Murray.

11:44 am

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | | Hansard source

I rise to pay tribute to the great Les Murray. Les Murray was born Laszlo Urge in November 1945 in a small town on the outskirts of Budapest in Hungary. The family migrated to Australia in 1957 under the Hungarian Refugee Assistance Scheme in the wake of the Hungarian uprising of 1956 that was crushed by the Stalinists of the Soviet Union. By the end of 1967, Australia had provided sanctuary to about 14,000 Hungarian refugees, bringing the total of first-generation Hungarians in Australia to just over 30,000. Les Murray never forgot where he came from and was a strong supporter of the rights of refugees and a passionate supporter of multiculturalism in this great country.

Murray had an extraordinary passion for football, known, when I was growing up, as soccer. When I was talking to him at Drummoyne Oval a few years ago, at the upgrade opening, he was very proud of the fact that, when I was young and he was younger, you had to talk about soccer. And you couldn't call it football—if you did, people would assume you were talking about rugby league or, in the southern states, Australian Rules Football. But, over his lifetime, it successfully became the No. 1 sport for young people in this country. It also became, of course, as we have seen recently with the extraordinary success of the Matildas, a game played by both young boys and young girls in ever increasing numbers.

He had been interested in football from a very early age, but his passion was sparked after watching a replay of the 1960 European Cup final. He began working as a journalist in 1971. In between time, he found time to perform in a rock music group, Rubber Band, where he was the lead singer. He moved to Network Ten as a commentator in 1977, where he changed his name to Les Murray. The interesting thing about Les Murray is just what a cult figure he became. Indeed, TISM, the Melbourne band, have this wonderful song—What Nationality is Les Murray?in which excerpts of the recordings of Les Murray calling games, pronouncing everyone's name absolutely correctly and in which his passion for the game shines through.

He moved to SBS in 1980 as a Hungarian language subtitler but soon turned to covering football. He was president at the outset of the National Soccer League, and he hosted several World Cup broadcasts as the sport transitioned to the A-League era and as the Socceroos, after a long gap from 1974, returned to playing in the World Cup. He always referred to football as The World Game, which was the title of the SBS's football program. He also referred to it as the beautiful game, a common name given to soccer because of its simplicity and because of the skills that are on display. Murray was inducted into the Football Federation Australia Hall of Fame in 2003 before he retired in 2014. Murray was made a member of the Order of Australia for services to football on 12 June 2006, as part of the Queen's Birthday honours list.

Les Murray has two daughters, Tania, a singer song-writer, and Natalie, a television journalist and presenter. Michael Ebeid, the CEO of SBS had this to say:

No one better embodied what SBS represents than Les Murray. From humble refugee origins, he became one of Australia’s most recognised and loved sporting identities. Not just a football icon, but a great Australian story and an inspiration to many, to say that his contribution to SBS and to football was enormous, doesn’t do it justice. This is a devastating loss for all of us …

Indeed, Australia had no greater champion of multiculturalism than Les Murray. There is no greater champion of the way that sport can unify us as a nation and, indeed, us as a human race than Les Murray. His passionate support for young people, his support for equality, his opposition to racism and his determination to lift up this country was quite extraordinary. As someone who arrived here from such humble beginnings as a refugee, I think he deserves to be considered up there with any of our sporting heroes. I pay tribute to Les Murray and I pass on my condolences to his family, to his many thousands of friends and also to the millions of Australians who will miss hearing him call The World Game.

11:51 am

Photo of Stephen JonesStephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | | Hansard source

I want to add my voice to the great tributes that we have heard this morning and yesterday from the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to this great Australian, to this icon of The World Gamethe game we now know as 'football'—and to somebody who very proudly called his adopted town of Wollongong home for many, many years.

Les was born in Hungary and arrived in Australia in 1957 at the age of 11. Both Wollongong and Australia were very different places back then. Les was part of that great wave of European postwar immigration that came to Australia and that not only made the Illawarra great but also made Australia great. He brought with him from Hungary a great love of football—and it is little wonder, because in the 1950s, when he came to Australia, Hungary was considered one of the best football-playing nations in the world.

Les's father was a steelworker. He joined with the literally thousands and thousands of men who came mainly from Europe to the Illawarra to work in the steelworks of Port Kembla, which were then operated by BHP. Les himself went to Berkeley High School in my electorate. It is now known as the Illawarra Sports High School. However, the students of the Illawarra Sports High School still remember and honour the great contribution that Les made to his sport, to his region and to his country. Each year, the school houses compete for a perpetual trophy known as the Les Murray Cup. The school held a very special and moving ceremony last week to mark his death. One of the students, Liliana Spiroski, had this to say:

He … described our school to be the most multicultural school in all of Australia. Being an individual who fought for people seeking asylum and being the face of football, I … hold immense respect for Les.

Les Murray should be a role model to all of us.

Very fine words, indeed—words that I think everyone in this chamber would agree with.

I want say a few words about Les as a refugee. As everyone knows, Hungary was invaded by the Stalinist Soviets in 1956. Les's father was an activist and had to flee. He was fleeing persecution and he knew that his family was in danger. He was smuggled out of Hungary. Remarkably, at the height of the hysteria about the people smugglers here in Australia, Les took the very brave stance of defending the people who had helped his family, even if they were being paid. He could have stayed silent, but he used his position of authority, and the great respect that many Australians had for him, to stand up for something he believed in. Les anglicised his name to fit into the world of commercial media, but he never lost his pride in his origins. He was a great champion of multiculturalism. Fittingly, his family have requested that those attending his state funeral on Monday wear a white ribbon to honour multicultural Australia.

It has been said by other speakers that his love of football defined him. He, of course, played football himself, for St George-Budapest. His big break came—however, he didn't realise it at the time—when he took up a job in the newly created SBS as a Hungarian subtitler. By accident, happenstance and conversations in the hallway, as so often happens, in no time people recognised the personality and the skill of the man, and he moved into the sports department. Les and former Socceroos captain Johnny Warren became one of the greatest double acts in Australian broadcasting, a partnership that lasted 24 years and which people will be talking about in another 24 years time. In 1986 he hosted the SBS coverage of the World Cup. He eventually covered eight of them. He was inducted into the FIFA Hall of Fame in 2003 and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 2006.

Nobody has done more to popularise the world game, the beautiful game, than Les Murray himself. He wrote four books, including his well-titled autobiography, By the Balls. He was very, very generous to those who were coming through in the game after him. Indeed, after the Australian women's team, the Matildas, clinched the Tournament of Nations last weekend—they beat Brazil, 6-1—the captain, Lisa De Vanna, declared: 'The Matildas did it for Les. We did it for Les.' She revealed that the team coach had inspired the team with a prematch pep talk, 'We're going out there and we're going to win this one for Les.' They wore the black armband in honour of his contribution and his life. Caitlin Foord scored two goals, and it's very fitting that she went to the very same high school as Les Murray himself: the Illawarra Sports High School, in my electorate.

When Les Murray first came to Australia and when migrants came to my region, they were often marginalised. Many, like Les, had to anglicise their names to fit in or to ensure that those who perhaps didn't have the same grasp of language that Les and others did could actually pronounce their names. If we talked about the great game—the world game, the beautiful game—it was as soccer, not football. It was a minority sport. Even in a region such as my own, with such a wealth of talented people and talented families who grew up on football, it was the minority sport. Things have changed so much: 60 years later, multicultural Australia and football are both mainstream. Les Murray has probably done more than any other Australian to make that a reality, and it is so fitting that we will hold a state funeral for him on Monday and that we honour him in this parliament today. Vale, Les Murray.

11:59 am

Photo of Rick WilsonRick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | | Hansard source

I would like to add some brief comments to pay tribute to the life of Les Murray and the impact he has had on our nation. I would also like to relate a personal story about football. Les Murray was a larger-than-life figure. I come from a state that is not a football state, it is an AFL state. I grew up in a small country town in the 1970s where soccer, as it was known then, was very rarely played and not particularly well-regarded. Of course, through the SBS TV network and other mediums the game of football as we now call it was becoming better known.

What had a large impact in my life was the arrival in the early 1970s in my home town of Katanning of a migrant community of Malay people who had come to work in the local abattoir. When I was a year 2 schoolboy we had a predominantly Anglo community, with some Aboriginal kids, and all of a sudden we had two Malay boys turn up, Duka Ebin and Halid Taela. They are still friends of mine today. During school lunch hours, we used to play football—Australian football, as we knew it. But these two new guys brought a soccer ball along, and within days the entire year group were playing soccer with these kids and having a wonderful time. And, as I say, those boys are still friends of mine today, and it just shows the power of sport to break down cultural barriers. We are all equal on the sporting field—we are all equal everywhere, but I guess it's most demonstrated on the sporting field.

The contribution that Les Murray made to this great nation of ours revolves around his contribution to the sport of football and its promotion to where it is now probably the most played sport in the country, certainly in my now home town of Albany. In a community of 37,000 people, on a Saturday morning nearly 800 kids are playing junior soccer. I guess that's testament to Les Murray's life, that so many Australians now see football as a game that is their first choice, and it's certainly given those migrants who have come from communities and countries where football is their main game an opportunity to move straight into mainstream Australian society and be accepted as equal with all the rest of us. So, vale Les Murray. My condolences go to his family. It was certainly a wonderful life and a wonderful contribution.

12:02 pm

Photo of Michael DanbyMichael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | | Hansard source

I will speak briefly on Les Murray until the minister who was meant to be here at 12 o'clock shows up. I am sure the government will see that he gets his skates on. Les Murray comes from a wonderful tradition of Hungarian immigrants to Australia. I was happy, and fortunate, to be part of that subculture, not through my own family but through family friends—the dear departed Stephen and Magda Curtis. We watched soccer; we enjoyed it. Les Murray was a great figure who all of the Hungarian-Australian community admired, including the family friends who I grew up with. This is a chance for me to remember my dear family friends, Stephen and Magda Curtis, who came from the same great contributing tradition of refugees from the Hungarian revolution that Les Murray came from.

12:04 pm

Photo of Greg HuntGreg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | | Hansard source

(   The passing of Les Murray provides a moment of great reflection for fans of Australian football. The players and the coaches, of course, are the front line, but the voice of football in Australia has been Les Murray.

We know his fabulous story. Born in Budapest, he immigrated to Australia in 1957. He played in the lower grades of football with St George-Budapest. But it was really off the pitch that he made his mark and was one of the great contributors to the expansion of football right throughout Australia. On any Saturday morning, young boys, like my own boy, James, who's eight years old, are playing out their dreams on a soccer pitch. They dream of and imagine playing football for Australia. Our family is no different—we have a young boy who loves it. It truly is an international game. I think Les Murray is one of those who have contributed to the rise of Australian football, which reached an apotheosis only in the last week, with the brilliant success of the Australian Matildas and the growth of Sam Kerr into one of the world's leading female players, if not the leading female player.

Les started his working life as a journalist in 1971. He moved into broadcasting, with a stint at Channel Ten in '77, before moving to SBS at the commencement of the 1980s, and that's where he lifted the game. He lifted football into the common understanding of people right across Australia. Along the way, he commentated on the football world cups and World Cup qualifiers between 1986 and 2014. He retired from commentating and broadcasting in 2014. The absence of what I wouldn't describe as his dulcet tones but more as his enthusiastic, energised tones has meant that perhaps something is a little bit missing from our commentary—without reflecting on any others involved. His was a unique voice, in a unique role, like Bill Collins in race calling, Lou Richards in AFL and so many others along the way.

For over 40 years, he was the face of football-calling. He spoke on international matches, he hosted On The Ball, Toyota World Sportandthe famous The World Game on SBS. And he had an impact. He was the person who spoke of the world game. He was made a Member of the Order of Australia along the way. He was a proud father to two daughters, to whom we give our condolences, along with all his other family members. Above all else, we recognise that, whilst our airwaves were the lesser for his retirement in 2014, our country is the lesser for his passing in 2017. But, along the way, he gave an enormous amount to the growth of football within Australia.

With the indulgence of the chamber, I will also take this opportunity, in my capacity as Minister for Sport, to express deep and profound regret at the passing of Betty Cuthbert. She was rightly called the 'Golden Girl' of Australian athletics, with the 1956 achievements in the 100 metres, the 200 metres and the 4 x 100 metres relay. The fact that she missed the 1960 Rome Olympic Games but came back to win the 400 metres in the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games is just an incredible achievement. She won four Olympic medals, all of them gold. She's one of only five Australians to have won four or more gold medals, and one of only two women, along with Dawn Fraser, to have done so.

Of all of the different things about Betty Cuthbert, perhaps the most striking and the most notable was the sheer joy and enthusiasm she brought to her athletics. I think two of the great photos of Australian sport are, firstly, of Betty Cuthbert cresting the tape in the 1956 Games with pure heart and nerve and sinew on display, with the mouth open and just that extent of effort. Then, on Tuesday morning, The Australian ran a magnificent photo on its front page of a young woman putting on her spikes, in colour, the golden hair, and just joy—joy in participation in athletics. And we need more of that. She was the ultimate role model, on the athletics track and off the track: modest, humble, energised, enthusiastic, and then, of course, what she lived through with her multiple sclerosis showed immense grace. And so she was the embodiment of courage, of grace and of speed—and, oh, what speed! We will miss her.