Daily Mail Australia sports writer Mike Colman dies after health battle

Mike Colman, former sports columnist for Daily Mail Australia, has died after a long health battle.

Colman, 68, died at 9pm on Friday in Brisbane, surrounded by his wife Linda and three children. He had been battling a rare lung disease.

Fellow sports columnist Robert Craddock shared a message in memory of Colman on X, formerly Twitter.

‘A tribute to the late, great sports columnist Mike Colman who lost his brave, long battle after what was as always a spirited fight,’ Craddock wrote.

‘Mike was truly a unique individual, the last of the great, mischievous columnists who could make readers laugh or cry in the same week.’

Peter FitzSimons, an outspoken journalist and partner of former The Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson, also paid tribute to Colman: ‘RIP Mike Colman.

“Experienced sports journalist, nice guy, great family man. I’ve hung out with him many times over the decades. Gone way too soon.”

Colman, a Walkley Award-winning journalist for 47 years, was best known for his witty takes on Australian sport. He shared his talent with the Daily Mail between 2021 and 2023.

In a piece, Colman looks back on his meeting with Prince Philip at Sydney’s Admiralty House in 1992.

After having to ‘maintain secrecy’ for almost 30 years, Colman recalls how jokes went down badly with the stern Duke of Edinburgh, who seemed anything but happy in Australia.

“He was a man of action and had given up everything he had achieved and wanted to achieve to support his wife and the monarchy,” Colman wrote.

‘If that meant spending an afternoon with a bunch of colonial journalists asking stupid questions, he would do it – but he drew the line at pretending to enjoy it.’

Colman passed away 12 years after the tragic death of his 17-year-old daughter Isabelle.

Isabelle’s death shocked the 2012 Schoolies celebrations on the Gold Coast.

The young girl fell 26 stories from a balcony at the Chevron Renaissance hotel and could not be resuscitated by paramedics.

Colman said at the time: ‘We are a very close and loving family. And we are not a broken family.

‘We just want to be close to each other during this time.’

More to come.