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Past Players’ Day

December 24, 2008 | Filed Under History

Some reflections on Past Players’ Day 2008


I hadn’t been to the Club for a while, after spending a good portion of my life there, so I was looking forward to seeing old teammates again.  Like so many past players, I’d kept track of happenings at the Club, scanning the results each Sunday and enjoying the development of our website.

 

I was always going to be there after Club Secretary David McLeod contacted me.  Past Players’ Days are for reminiscing and rejoicing and I’d followed Dave’s career at Fulham from its start until its remarkable present.  I’d seen his bowling play a significant part of Fulham winning a premiership in his early days, I’d enjoyed keeping wickets to his bowling for many years and scanning those Sunday results to see a couple of centuries against his name in recent times had given me nearly as much pleasure as it had given him.

 

It was easy feeling comfortable about being back at Fulham when the first past players I saw were Tony Ey and Grant Ogden.  One of the first people I’d pick in a team I’d most enjoy playing with, ‘Oggie’ batted the way most of us would have liked to, a free spirit and a very effective one.  My thoughts went back to first seeing him in the ‘D’ grade and later seeing him as part of our last ‘A’ Grade premiership team when I was coaching.

 

As a cricketer, Tony Ey did everything well.  An opening batsman when I first met him, he was an effective middle order batsman later, very much one of the better fieldsmen our Club has seen, a Premiership captain and a mainstay and guiding hand of the Committee for many years. He was also a handy bowler and a wonderful teammate.  Tony continues to do everything well, quickly rising to umpiring at Premier Grade level after his playing days.

 

It was good to see some of the current players and committee there as well and that made me think of how important Past Players’ reunions were.  The Life members present were all given a club cap and many of us were happy to purchase a current club shirt.  Looking at “The Falcons” emblem, now well established, took my mind back some years to when it was adopted.  Not many would remember that it was Tony Ey who was responsible for the original proposal, an idea that was translated into the current logo by David McLeod.                 .

 

Most of my playing time at Fulham was under our old black and white colours, somewhat of a conflict of interest for the many avowed West Adelaide supporters at the Club.  As soon as the legendary Peter Lewis, a Port Adelaide fanatic, moved from Fulham, the sensible decision to substitute the white with plenty of red was quickly taken.  This was, of course, in no way due to the bias of Tony Ey, Gary Paul, Trevor Waller and that wonderful Fulham supporter, the late Alec Paul.

 

A decision I totally supported, of course.

 

Proceedings continued with a presentation.  ‘The Spirit of Cricket’ they called it and Robert Ashby introduced it with some very kind words about my contribution to our Club.  I was well aware that the fact we were gathering in our Collins Reserve clubrooms was very much a testament to Rob’s vision and ability and I’ll be writing more about his wonderful contribution to our Club next time.

 

I’d also guess that the past players who were there experienced two main emotions on their return to the Club this time.  After getting over the shock of seeing a large-screen Plasma TV, instead of the antique black and white set complete with nearby broom handle to change channels, the first was a feeling of overwhelming pleasure at the current strength and future prospects of our Club.   The second would have been recalling the tough times, not that long ago, when we were so close to closing our doors and walking away.

 

Why that didn’t happen was due to those gathered for Past Players’ Day, 2008.

 

Which is why we all share the ‘Spirit of Fulham Cricket’.

 

 

Lee Harradine

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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