Joffa Corfe

Joffa Corfe
Joffa Corfe, May 2011
Born	7 July 1964 Preston, Victoria
Residence	Melbourne, Australia
Occupation	Leader of Collingwood F.C. Cheer Squad
Website
http://www.joffasfrontpage.com/

Jeff "Joffa" Corfe (born 7 July 1964) is an Australian rules football supporter best known for being the leader of the Collingwood Football Club cheer squad since 2001. The Herald Sun has described "Joffa" as "probably one of the best-known sporting fans in the world".

The Gold Jacket

"Joffa" Corfe rose to prominence in 2002 by donning a gold jacket and holding up a "Game Over" banner during games when he felt Collingwood had secured victory, usually in the fourth quarter. The jacket came from the Channel Nine wardrobe and had been previously worn by Bernard King and Tommy Hanlon Jr. When "Joffa" saw Eddie McGuire wear it on The Footy Show, he e-mailed McGuire to ask if he could use it to celebrate Collingwood victories. Eddie had the jacket drycleaned and handed it over at a Victoria Park training session.

Before the 2003 AFL Grand Final, "Joffa" announced he was going to discontinue use of the jacket, however after Collingwood's loss he suggested the jacket would make a comeback the next season. New jackets were introduced in 2005 and 2010. The last version featured the logo of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria on front and back. In 2010, "Joffa" said he would retire the gold jacket "if the Pies win the flag." "Joffa" had the jacket on by the sixth minute of the final quarter of the 2010 AFL Grand Final replay, as Collingwood stormed to an easy win over St Kilda.

Following a turbulent ten year history, the gold jacket was officially retired by "Joffa" after the 2010 Premiership win.

Joffa and the Gold Jacket in action

The jacket was auctioned on eBay for $3,900.00, with all proceeds going to the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria.

In 2011, a new version – known as "the People's Jacket" – was created by the Epilepsy Foundation and is worn by Collingwood supporters, usually children, after a win.

Early life and family

"Joffa", one of five boys and two girls, came from a poor family. His mother, June Murphy, had a mental illness, Corfe says, but it was undiagnosed. His father, Robert Corfe, drove a truck and had other "bum jobs". Corfe can't remember being hugged by either of them, ever. Their financial woes resulted in him living at the Allambie Boys Home in East Burwood in the mid-1960s for four or five years, before going back to live with his family. It was while staying there that a "lovely couple" took him to Victoria Park where he saw his first game of football.

"Joffa" left school at 14, drifting from job to job and being homeless. He was homeless for four years, surviving street life and learning about risky behaviour and dangerous people, until he got a job at a plastics factory in Hawthorn and was able to live better.

Today he is a single working father. His daughter, Emma, was diagnosed at 13 with epilepsy. He loves to read a good book or spend time with his three grandchildren – Simon, Jeffrey and Destiny-Pearl, who are indigenous. Joffa has close connections with the indigenous community at Lake Tyers. He has not had a drink of alcohol since 2000. "I never had a problem with it, but I have major problems with people who are intoxicated. They just don't make sense."

As well as being a charity fund raiser and support to disadvantaged people, he is a regular speaker at Sportmen's Nights and social and charity events.

Employment

"Joffa" is employed as a welfare worker at the Anchorage Hostel, a Salvation Army refuge for homeless men. He does night shift, 11pm to 8.30am. The Hostel "houses 57 men, with an average age of about 50. Half have mental health issues or brain injuries, their life administered by the state trustee. Many are alcoholics or drug users. Some choose to be outsiders, some have had that forced upon them."

Eddie McGuire says he is a big fan of Joffa's. "He's as rough as hessian undies," says McGuire, "but he has a tremendous intellect and an amazing capacity for good."

Today "Joffa" Corfe is so well known in Australia that The Australian newspaper used his name in an opinion piece on the National Broadband Network debate.

Charity work

Joffa Corfe and Joffre Pearce about to depart Murray Bridge on the final leg of their fundraising ride from Melbourne to Adelaide.

As the leader of the Cheer Squad of one of the most famous clubs in Australia, "Joffa" Corfe attracts animosity from opposition supporters. "Joffa" concedes that many people have a low opinion of him. "If the public perception was right, I'd be in Pentridge", he said in 2010. Instead of rotting away in that notorious, though now defunct, colonial prison, "Joffa" released a film that year and stayed busy raising money for charity.

Ride to AAMI

From 30 July 2011 to 6 August 2011, Joffa Corfe and Joffre Pearce, father of Danyle Pearce, a player with the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, completed a fund-raising bicycle ride from Rockbank, outside of Melbourne, to AAMI Stadium in Adelaide. Along the way they met up with local football clubs, and gave and received encouragement. Olympic Gold Medalist Brett Aitken joined the riders on their final leg.

The ride raised over $1,300 for the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria’s Parent Epilepsy Support Network.

2011 Flood Relief Charity Match

During one of the breaks in the NAB Cup three-way match at Etihad Stadium on 12 February 2011, "Joffa" turned out as a player for the "Collingwood" team in a charity fund-raiser against a celebrity "Carlton" team. Funds were raised to aid victims of the devastating Queensland floods.

Joffa in action for Queensland Flood Relief at Etihad Stadium, 2011

RecLink football

Joffa is an active supporter of RecLink football in general and the Collingwood Knights team in particular. RecLink is a national organisation that provides access to sporting and recreational opportunities as a form of social therapy for people experiencing social and economic disadvantage.

Joffa's Walk for Epilepsy

He has been an active and successful fund raiser for the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria for many years. Joffa’s Walk for Epilepsy was run in 2006.

Bobblehead doll

In conjunction with the release of Joffa: The Movie, Joffa the Movie Action Figure Bobblehead Dolls are currently being sold by the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria to raise funds for epilepsy research.

Carlton Football Club

When the Carlton Football Club, long time nemesis of Joffa's beloved Collingwood, got itself into "dire financial trouble" in 2007, Joffa appeared in Carlton colours outside Flinders Street Station "to show he was serious about helping the club". He described Carlton as one of the four "powerhouses of the competition" and said he would "do anything" to keep them from disappearing in a merger with another club. "They're the club I love to hate, so I'd hate to see them go."

Joffa the Action Figure Bobblehead Doll

Joffa: The Movie

Inspired by the classic Australian movie The Club, producer-director Chris Liontos decided to make his own film about Aussie rules football "through the eyes of the most passionate supporter in the country." Joffa: The Movie was released nationally on 2 September 2010. For such "an ultra-low budget movie to get a national cinema release – this has never happened (before)," Liontos said. The official website describes Joffa's life outside football as "hilariously funny" and promises "a journey that explores mateship, trust and the human spirit".

The DVD of the movie was released in December 2010 by Madman Entertainment. In reviewing the DVD, Filmink said: "A ubiquitous, beguiling weirdo, Joffa is warm and funny playing himself..." The DVD includes a full set of commentaries, bloopers and footage of Collingwood's 2010 Grand Final win celebrations.

Controversy

When the Prime Minister Julia Gillard tried to rally voters during the 2010 Federal election by calling for a "unity ticket" of people who hated Collingwood Football Club, Joffa Corfe reacted by saying that she had "lost his vote". When she was asked to explain her inflammatory comments, Ms Gillard said she had no choice but to "stick with her footy principles." Joffa said, "For a Prime Minister to jump on the anti-Collingwood bandwagon, I reckon it’s a bit poor... We don’t need that stuff on the national political stage." He added: "I have gone to the Greens, she’s finished."

In 2008 Corfe created controversy when photographs of him posing with two rifles in the manner of Melbourne criminal Chopper Read were posted on a Collingwood supporters' internet forum. His actions were criticised by gun control activists but Collingwood's president, Eddie McGuire, defended Corfe's character.

After a ban on the use of the term "white maggot" in reference to umpires was introduced at The Gabba in 2007, Corfe defended the right of supporters to use the term. He compared security at the ground to Gestapo.

While Corfe has been the highest profile member of the Collingwood cheer squad he has not always had a comfortable relationship with other fans and club staff. During 2003 leaflets criticising his behaviour and including his home address were distributed at a Collingwood match.

In 2002 when the Pink Magpies a GLBT queer friendly supporter group for The Collingwood Football Club was announced Joffa got himself into hot water using terms such as "disgusting" and "responsible for more deaths than any other single group of people" while he bemoaned he was "just a normal straight man who will be canned for his opinion". He went onto to say he was misunderstood and has since tried to make moves to make amends, although he has done no charitable work with the GLBTIQ so judge for yourselves. http://www.magpies.net/nick/bb/viewtopic.php?p=171486&highlight=eddie#171486 This is Joffa's apology.

In Round 18 of the 2002 AFL season, in a match between Collingwood and their archrival Carlton, Corfe drew attention to the fact that Carlton were going to finish last that year by waving an oversized wooden spoon. The spoon was initially confiscated, though it was later put on display at the Collingwood club rooms.

External links

• Joffa's Front Page
• Joffa: The Movie Official website
• Jeff Corfe reveals the family man behind the gold jacket Herald Sun video interview, 20 August 2010
• Emma Corfe: People living with epilepsy Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria