Mourners farewelled the North Albury Football Netball Club stalwart on Friday after he passed away aged 91 earlier this week.

Coleman, who has the timekeeping pavilion named in his honour at Bunton Park, was a tireless worker at the club for 54 years.

“Keith was a legend at North Albury,” long-time friend Les O’Brien said.

“He was such a hard worker.

“He got involved in everything and did it 100 per cent properly.

“Keith always called a spade a spade and 95 per cent of the time he was right.”

Coleman joined North Albury in 1948 and spent many years on the committee.

He served as treasurer-secretary and goal umpire before spending 20 years as timekeeper.

While he was well-known for his diligence, things didn’t always go to plan.

His most embarrassing moment happened in the old timekeeper's box at Bunton Park which didn’t have a door on it.

A youngster wandered in during a match as Coleman was watching the football.

He reached up and touched a button on the console in front of Coleman and it turned out to be the siren.

Play stopped halfway through a quarter and the umpire was hastily told it was a malfunction and the game resumed.

But whenever Coleman saw the youngster hanging around from then on, he put his hand over the console so there wouldn’t be another mishap.

One of Coleman’s other hobbies was his ferrets.

He named them after many Carlton champions with Chris Judd and Marc Murphy the last two players to be honoured by the long-time Blues’ supporter.

“Keith loved Carlton,” O’Brien said.

“He bred a lot of ferrets and named them after Carlton’s best players but he became a little frustrated in recent years when they started to become harder to find.

“He was a fanatical Carlton supporter.”

On the sporting arena, Coleman excelled at cricket.

He started playing at North Albury in 1948 and was a member of the Hoppers’ A-grade premiership that season.

Coleman then joined East Albury in 1965-66 and won A-grade flags in 1966-67 and 1967-68.

He played for another two years before entering the umpiring ranks and officiating in four A-grade grand finals.

Coleman retired from cricket in 1984.

A good gathering of Ovens and Murray and Cricket Albury-Wodonga sporting identities attended Coleman’s funeral.