August - Melbourne Cricket Club

club news
GEE, IT’S A GREAT
PLACE TO BE
Volunteer guides are needed as the MCG prepares
for a tourism invasion in 2008
There’s a note from the president
asking for some background on
Melbourne-Kangaroos clashes
over the years. Nothing terrific springs to
mind so it’s on the phone to David Allen
and within five minutes we’re flooded
with material. He relates how generous
both clubs have been to each other over
the years, swapping top players and a
coach, although not necessarily to the
mutual benefit.
David, an MCC Library volunteer for
many years and a noted football historian,
lives and breathes the game and is a very
valuable resource for the club in so many
ways. So, too, is Quentin Miller, a retired
solicitor and cricket buff who found time
during a busy life to chair the Lord’s
Taverners group in Victoria and to act as
national CEO.
Quentin also served as executive officer
of VICSRAPID, a charity that supports
intellectually disabled sportsmen and
women. His attraction to the MCG goes
back to childhood days at the cricket
with his father. Gravitating to the MCC
Library as a volunteer came naturally,
notwithstanding that he grew up living
next door to the family of current
librarian David Studham!
“I’m here every morning,” says
Quentin. “I just love it. I can’t think of a
better place to idle away my time.”
We suspect that Quentin’s cricket savvy
and general productivity would find him
far from idle, but the sentiments would be
echoed throughout the ranks of the
MCC’s 250-strong pool of volunteers.
Members wishing to register their interest
in becoming an MCC Library volunteer
should contact David Studham on 9657
8967 or email davids@mcc.org.au.
Pat Hogan has been an MCG guide
since the club’s first serious steps into
the tourism market in 1988, when the
Australian Gallery of Sport was in
its infancy. You’ll mostly find him in
the Gate 3 reception area these days,
surrounded by visitors leaving on guided
tours every 15 minutes or so.
When Pat started on guiding duties he
was one of 27. “I responded to an item in
the newsletter calling for tour guides,” he
recalls. “We were briefed by (museum
consultant) John Kendall, given a foolscap
information sheet and wished good luck.
It was really up to the individual guide to
Quentin Miller (above) and
tour guide John Moss (left)
are big contributors to the
MCG scene.
add some colour to the tour.”
And that’s what enhances
the visitor’s experience at the
MCG. “We have very few
people disappointed after a
tour of the ground,” says MCG guides
co-ordinator Ian Ramsey. “There are
so many points of interest here but the
contribution of the guides certainly adds
another dimension to a tour of the ’G.”
With the National Sports Museum set
to open in March 2008, Ian is on the
lookout for more guides.
“We would like to have a bigger pool
of guides to cope with the influx of
visitors next year,” he says. “We’re
already running at record visitor levels
and there is a growing demand for
guides.”
As Pat Hogan observes: “The guides
have always been a nice group of people.
They’re interested in sport, the club, the
MCG and other people, and they’re a
pleasure to work with.”
Members interested in coming on
board should contact Ian Ramsey on
9657 8858 or email ianr@mcc.org.au.
A GOOD FRIEND OF THE MCG
The club was saddened by the
passing of AFL Commission
chairman Ron Evans OAM in
March. An MCC member since 1981,
Ron had a close association with the club
and the ground on several fronts.
He was president of Essendon in 1991
when the Bombers chose to leave Windy
Hill and adopt the MCG as their home
ground after the Great Southern Stand
was completed. An extremely bold move
at the time, Essendon benefited greatly
from the magnificent facilities on offer
and membership rose accordingly.
Later, as an AFL commissioner,
Ron was involved with all the weighty
issues that inevitably arose between the
club and the league over MCG affairs.
And for more than 30 years he was
a senior executive with the MCG’s
caterers, Spotless, with whom the club
has enjoyed a fruitful relationship
since 1979.
Universally liked and admired, Ron
will be remembered through the striking
of the Ron Evans Medal for the AFL’s
Rising Star award to the game’s best
young player of the year.
Ron Evans (centre) with Dick Reynolds
and Simon Madden as the Dons prepared
to move to the MCG in 1991.
MCC NEWS
august 2007