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VALE MATHEW AXELSON
10 Dec 2013
David & Sue Axelson invite Mathew's friends from the polo community to join them in a celebration service for Mathew at 11am Saturday 14th December at Chadwick Cottage, 68 Chadwick Road, Harkaway, VIC 3806 Tel. 03 9796 8439.
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The Victorian Polo community will be saddened to hear of the death of one of its greatest supporters in Mathew Axelson.
Mathew’s involvement in polo started as a young child looking from the sidelines as his parents David and Sue played for the Yarra Glen/Lilydale Polo Club. As time went on and Mathew’s passion for polo grew, it wasn’t long before a horse was found that Mathew could indulge in his favourite passion.
Patch became synonymous with polo as many of the big names and to Mathews delight Patch was inducted into the Australian Polo Hall of Fame along with some of the great horses to grace the Polo fields of Australia. To be presented with the award by Sinclair Hill was one of his cherished memories.
For all his disabilities’ Mathew never complained, and he was never happier when on the sidelines at Polo explaining the game to newcomers or passing on his vast knowledge of horses and players.
My great memory was playing with Mathew in one of his last games along with his parents David and Sue and of course Patch with Mathew hitting a penalty on full time to win the game.
Polo was much richer for having Mathew in its fold and we will all miss his support and lovely smile.
John Patterson
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A tribute to Mathew Axelson:
When I first saw Mattie, many years ago at Lilydale, I made two mistakes, I felt sorry for him and I ignored him.
Sometime later David and Sue asked if he could come to my, week long, polo camp at Yaloak. I did not want to take him as I didn’t think that we could accommodate him and because we had some very good young polo prospects coming to the school, I thought that he would only hold up the procedures. Again I was wrong on all accounts. David and Sue convinced me that he wouldn’t be any problem and that his mates would help look after him.
So he came to the school and the first thing that I noticed was how well his mates, particularly Jeff Norris and Phillip Kelly, helped and looked after him when necessary which wasn’t often as Mattie wanted to do as much as he could on his own.
Within a few hours, myself and the rest of the camp developed a great respect for Mattie and admired his determination. I was amazed at the impact he had on all those other young guys who simply treated him as another player and expected him to join in and Mattie didn’t expect any favours. He also had a big impact on me and he made me realise that people with a disability have a lot to offer and shouldn’t be ignored or isolated.
During that camp, Mattie became one of my best friends and remained so. After I left Victoria, whenever I had an opportunity to go back to Werribee, Mattie was the person I most looked forward to seeing.
The Hall of Fame was a great night and was made even greater with Mattie’s presence. Fortunately I was able to spend some time with him and we had a good chat. He was able to recall games I played and some of the good horses I played and off course he talked a lot about Patches and was so excited and proud of his award. Little did we know that it would be our last chat.
I would like to offer my condolences to David and Sue and assure them that they had a son to be proud of as he was an inspiration to many. I doubt if any polo player has gained so much respect or admiration as Mattie did. I would also like to thank David and Sue for giving us the opportunity of having such a special person in our lives.
Mattie will be sadly missed, may he rest in peace.
Pat MacGinley
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