Celebrating 175 years - Melbourne Cricket Club

FUNCTION NEWS
Fine fare for all in
MCC social calendar
Matthew Hayden roamed far and wide
in his address at the Members’ Dinner
on December 14 but his central
theme of time and fellowship stayed close.
He spoke of time in the middle, time in the
rooms and time travelling as a means of
developing relationships with his teammates
and even the crowd. He enjoyed interaction with
the fans and got to know some of them well.
It wasn’t all about the “engine room” of
Langer, Hayden and Ponting who did the
hard yards for “interior decorators like the
Waughs,” he noted. Rather, cricket for
Matthew covered a broader spectrum.
He told the story of young Bart Wilson
asking for an autograph at the Gabba one
day. Hayden obliged, one thing led to another
and the boy’s parents, who lived at Coolum
on the Sunshine Coast, invited him to drop in
any time. They left a phone number.
Not long after, Hayden, a keen surfer,
heard reports of the tail-end of a cyclone
whipping up some terrific surf off Coolum.
He rang the Wilsons who were only too
pleased to have Matthew as a house guest
and they’ve been friends ever since. Bart was
a page boy at his wedding.
As he said, he had spent time with
someone – in this case a fan – and a beautiful
family relationship had developed.
Hayden was relating this experience when he
stumbled across what he’d meant to be talking
about 20 minutes earlier – his glory days at the
MCG. It didn’t start well, he recalled, getting
knocked over by the best bowler he ever faced
– Curtly Ambrose – first ball.
Golden duck behind him, he shortly hit his
straps and enjoyed remarkable success over a
long career. He supports all forms of the game
and is on a personal crusade to find some
indigenous talent among the Tiwi Islanders.
Earlier, Michael Sholly, the MCC’s
chairman of Premier Cricket, proposed the
toast to a game that has obsessed him since
childhood. He told of his ruse to wag school
aged 10, telling mum that he had a sore
throat. This just happened to be the first day
of the Gabba Test in 1970.
Lo and behold, joining him on the couch in
front of the TV that day as a workplace
withdrawal was his dad! Stacky made most
of his 207 against the Poms while they were
watching and the youngster was thrilled.
Michael went on to forge a distinguished
career at District/Premier level with MCC and
Melbourne University, winning premierships
as captain-coach at both clubs, and his love
affair with the game continues. Interestingly,
while a traditionalist, he also supports T20
and called for “open-mindedness” in
assessing the three forms of the game.
This top-end function devoted to cricket
was preceded by a number of luncheons
honouring the 50-year member brigade.
Almost 60 newcomers to 50-year ranks
were welcomed by president Paul Sheahan
at a Committee Room luncheon on
December 11 but to cater for the 50-year
“oldies” two sittings in the Members Dining
Room were required at the end of
November for their annual luncheon.
MC Stephen Phillips mentioned a long
list of distinguished attendees at both
functions and had a readymade star in Sam
Newman to interview at the second
luncheon. After Stephen recounted some
details of Newman’s remarkable
athleticism as a young man, Sam told how
he flaunted his MCC membership in his
early years at Geelong.
“I always used to come through the
Reserve before making my way to the
team bus,” he recalled. And then there was
his smart-alec antic in the ruck against
Carlton’s Maurie Sankey when he ran across
his opponent at the critical moment at the
bounce, allowing Polly Farmer to handball
long and hard to his rover for a goal.
After the first goal Sankey issued a
warning but it went unheeded. After the
second such goal, smarty pants Sam was
nursing a jaw broken in two places!
Two sittings were also required for the
end-of-year luncheons for our volunteers in
December. Olympian Ray Weinberg was a
special guest at the first function, while next
day leading The Age sportswriter Greg Baum
spoke of his experiences at the London Games.
Baum admitted to “blazer envy” and got a
laugh with his opening observation that he
“can’t think of anything better than showing
people around here a couple of days a week.”
He thought London was the best Games he
had attended and noted that volunteerism
had become the biggest feature of an
Olympics since the success of Sydney.
An Anglophile, Greg spoke warmly of “the
new and likeable London” and the
sportsmanship displayed there.
He concluded, however, that “sport is an
arms race. We’re a small country and we’ll
lose an arms race. We should accept that.”
The Christmas Day luncheon in the
Members Dining Room was again well
patronised and augured well for a flurry of
activity over the next few days, starting with
the Boxing Day Breakfast hosted by Damien
Fleming. Doug Walters was an entertaining
guest speaker as were the supporting cast
including injured Australian paceman James
Pattinson and head curator David Sandurski,
who had an outstanding “Test debut”.
Next came the Women in Cricket Test
Breakfast on day two when mother-to-be
Angela Pippos introduced Ian Healy to an
enthusiastic audience. Attendees also
enjoyed the offerings from Australian players
Jess Cameron (later named player of the
World Cup Final in Australia’s triumph) and
Meg Lanning, as well as MCC First XI captain
Anna O’Donnell.
More recent functions were the very
popular MCC/VRC Members’ Lounge evening
at the T20 Big Bash League match on
January 6 and the Women in Wine function in
the Long Room on February 28. As we’re
pleased to say, there’s something for
everyone on the MCC social calendar.
March 2013
MCC NEWS
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