Just hours before her passing Ruth Brain was hosting the Mininera and District Football League's Lewis Medal vote count, one of the highlights of the year for the league, and tomorrow her beloved Pumas will fight for glory in the league grand final against the Hawks.

Ruth was the first female president of the Moyston Willaura Football Netball Club and the first female president of the Mininera and District Football League, she counted respected Age football columnist Martin Flanagan among her friends and went into bat, alongside him, when Moyston was left out of the history books by the AFL as the place where AFL originated.

She was passionate about a day at the footy being a family day - a day where mum, dad and the kids could come along and enjoy football and netball in a safe and friendly way.

Both teams could win tomorrow's grand final and both deserve premiership glory, but perhaps this tragic loss will spur the Puma boys on to bring the premiership trophy home for Ruth.

Ruth would not want tomorrow's grand final to be clouded by her passing, she would want everyone there screaming for their team and enjoying the atmosphere.

While words can't express the hole that will be left by Ruth's passing in the football world, in the Willaura and Moyston communities and of course in the life of her family, we can take comfort in her passion for all things community.

As The Ararat Advertiser's weekly football correspondent this year with the Over the Fence column, Ruth often signed off with a thought provoking quote and one she recently provided, by Margaret Wheatley, could easily be applied to Ruth herself:

'True leaders develop into great storytellers, with self-worth and self-awareness to operate with an absence of arrogance and a presence of humility'.

Vale Ruth Brain