# Rip Murray Ball - Footrot Flats cartoonist



## Airgead (13/3/17)

Anyone else remember the old Footrot Flats comic? 

Murray Ball, the man behind Footrot Flats died from complications of Alzheimer's yesterday at age 78. 

We never did get to learn what Dog's name was...


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## madpierre06 (13/3/17)

Loved the comic strip back in the day, just brilliant.


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## Droopy Brew (13/3/17)

Remember them? How can anyone growing up in Australia or NZ forget?

I loved Footy flats and both my sons have been working their way through my collection. They are a bit the worse for wear now but better they are read, loved and dogeared than sitting somewhere collecting dust.

I was sad to hear the news, particularly the circumstances. My old man has Alzheimers and it is a shit of a condition that strips away the mind and personality. I feel for anyone who has to suffer it and their families, particularly those with such a sharp wit and mind as Muzza Ball had.

RIP.


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## Feldon (13/3/17)

Airgead said:


> We never did get to learn what Dog's name was...







RIP Mr Ball, and thanks for the laughs.


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## DU99 (13/3/17)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5W60sJ-z8E


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## lost at sea (13/3/17)

I have ALMOST the complete set at home still in great condtion, missing 2 or 3. I should track them
Down before they are hard to find.

Horse the tom-cat was the boss!


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## Mikeyr (13/3/17)

"such a refined, aristocratic name" ...... 

Era I roto I te rangimarie


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## Kiwimike (13/3/17)

A very talented man, will be sadly missed!


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## Black Devil Dog (13/3/17)

Loved those cartoons, had several of his books back in the day. 

I remember talking about his cartoons to a girl I admired at the time and she just didn't get it. "It's stupid, dogs can't talk" she said.

She was off my radar pretty quickly after that. ( I was probably off hers for the same reason)


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## Brewnicorn (13/3/17)

I collected the Footrot Flats books throughout my childhood and the animated film was the first movie I saw at a drive in. Remarkable stories and something now I think firmly took my imagination forward and anchored a lot of mischief in me in my childhood too. 
I sold the collected volumes in 2011 (1-22) I think and some collected 'weekender' series as well. Wish I had a handful now to look back on. 
Vale Murray Ball. Made the world a smaller friendlier place.


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## TheWiggman (13/3/17)

I still remember as a little tacker at school one of the kids wrote to Murray Ball with their own cartoon depiction of the comic. It included a simple fan letter as part of an infant's writing excercise. He actually responded. One of the questions the kid asked was "what is the dog's real name". In his reply he said to keep it a secret, but his name is Diogenes. Bear in mind this was a hand written letter by Ball himself in the days before the internet, so I'm pretty confident that was the truth. It was such a breakthrough for me having read through most of the books (my dad had almost the entire collection) that I still remember sitting in that assembly on the wooden floor hearing that name. Maybe there's info or evidence out there about it now, make what you will of it, but maybe you heard it here first. 
A real shame he has passed, it's a classic comic that held its own.


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## Camo6 (13/3/17)

Sad end to a brilliant cartoonist. Grew up on his books and must've read every one ten times over.

And Dog's name was Raupo.


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## 5teve (13/3/17)

Very sad, Footrot Flats was pretty much the only comic strip I ever religiously read in the paper



TheWiggman said:


> ...One of the questions the kid asked was "what is the dog's real name". In his reply he said to keep it a secret, but his name is Diogenes....


Seems legit, quick search shows Murray Ball as an owner of Diogenes Designs Limited, the copyright owner of www.footrotflats.com


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## Feldon (13/3/17)

TheWiggman said:


> One of the questions the kid asked was "what is the dog's real name". In his reply he said to keep it a secret, but his name is Diogenes.


Bingo! That may be a world first TheWiggman.

The following is from the Wikipedia entry for the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes the Cynic (died 323 BC):

_Diogenes was a controversial figure. His father minted coins for a living, and when Diogenes took to debasement of currency, he was banished from Sinope. After being exiled, he moved to Athens and criticized many cultural conventions of the city. Diogenes modelled himself on the example of Heracles. He believed that virtue was better revealed in action than in theory. He used his simple lifestyle and behaviour to criticize the social values and institutions of what he saw as a corrupt or at least confused society. In a highly non-traditional fashion, he had a reputation of sleeping and eating wherever he chose and took to toughening himself against nature. He declared himself a cosmopolitan and a citizen of the world rather than claiming allegiance to just one place. *There are many tales about his dogging Antisthenes' footsteps and becoming his "faithful hound".* Diogenes made a virtue of poverty. He begged for a living and often slept in a large ceramic jar in the marketplace. He became notorious for his philosophical stunts such as carrying a lamp in the daytime, claiming to be looking for an honest man. He criticized and embarrassed Plato, disputed his interpretation of Socrates and sabotaged his lectures, sometimes distracting attendees by bringing food and eating during the discussions. Diogenes was also noted for having publicly mocked Alexander the Great._

and...

_*Many anecdotes of Diogenes refer to his dog-like behavior, and his praise of a dog's virtues.* It is not known whether Diogenes was insulted with the epithet "doggish" and made a virtue of it, or whether he first took up the dog theme himself. When asked why he was called a dog he replied, "I fawn on those who give me anything, I yelp at those who refuse, and I set my teeth in rascals." Diogenes believed human beings live artificially and hypocritically and would do well to study the dog. Besides performing natural body functions in public with ease, a dog will eat anything, and make no fuss about where to sleep. Dogs live in the present without anxiety, and have no use for the pretensions of abstract philosophy. In addition to these virtues, dogs are thought to know instinctively who is friend and who is foe. Unlike human beings who either dupe others or are duped, dogs will give an honest bark at the truth. Diogenes stated that "other dogs bite their enemies, I bite my friends to save them."_

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diogenes


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## Airgead (14/3/17)

Diogenes the dog. Makes sense. 

Well done TheWiggman! As usual I stand in awe at the collective knowledge present here.


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## Droopy Brew (14/3/17)

There you go, learn something every day.
I always thought it was the Scarlet Manuka, Grey Ghost or Iron Paw.


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## good4whatAlesU (14/3/17)

Rippa cartoon, grew up with it as a kid. 

Both my grandparents were NZ dairy (and sheep) farmers so it sort of hit a note with us. . 

Rest in peace Murray.


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## Camo6 (14/3/17)

Well that's weird. A mate and I can both recall an intro or epilogue in one of the FF books where Dog reveals his name. We both remembered it as being Raupo, the name of the local town. Mind you we would have been 9 or 10 at the time.
He still has every book in the collection (also had a dog called Dog and a cat called Horse) and he skimmed through every book and could not find the reference. This is all the proof I need to believe we are all living inside a computer simulation.


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## GibboQLD (14/3/17)

RIP Mr Ball, your comics were a huge part of my childhood -- even used a picture of Dog for a copper embossing project in high school!


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