I won my first cricket premiership in 1985. I was captain, and the match was played over three weeks despite rain, thunder, and lightning. I took 4/14 to vastly influence the outcome. I nervously walked about the oval on several occasions as we steadily managed to reach the target.
I began playing cricket when I was first appointed to teach at Pakenham High in 1967. A fellow teacher invited me to join the team. I hadn’t played competitively before and enjoyed the experience. It developed into a lifelong obsession, and I played for the next fifty years. During that time, I became President of a club, started a new club in 1984 (Upper Beaconsfield), which subsequently expanded to field four senior teams and eight junior teams, including our first female team, which was a top priority to become more inclusive. In 2000, I was awarded an Australian Sports Medal and later a Fifty-Year Service Medal by Cricket Victoria.
I played cricket until the age of 76 and umpired football until the age of 75. These days, I’m a match-day coach for Southern Umpires in the Mornington Peninsula Football Netball Club League and play golf once a week.
Cricket Administration has become a daily task that has absorbed many hours. In 2000, I wrote a history of my club titled “A Century Partnership”, lodged in the Museum at the MCG.
Whatever is your passion, make every effort to consume it and share it with others.
Robert – aged 81.
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