By Nick Creely
An update of the records at Perc Allison Oval has turned into one of the most anticipated and important events in Beaconsfield Cricket Club history, and the Tigers are urging anyone who has been involved with the club to get on board.
The current Dandenong District Cricket Association club will honour the very best cricketers that have played for the Tigers from 1960 to 2020 with the club’s inaugural Hall of Fame Awards night in May next year, with many of the legendary icons of the club set to be in attendance.
It’s all about recognition for the years of dedication some have put into making the club what it is today, and about acknowledging some of the finest cricketers who have graced the field wearing the colours.
Michael McMahon, the vice-president of the club and historian, said that a simple updating of key statistics in their history led to a realisation that more needed to be done.
“I took over from Kev Rankin in the historians department about seven years ago, and whilst he was in his last year, I started doing the games played for the club, there was nothing,” he said.
“It started off with that, and it just grew, and now our website reflects the runs and wickets, centuries, there’s a lot of stuff that which in a way was just bringing us up to speed with a lot of other clubs.
“It’s been a long haul, so the way that started was just an innocent thing, and as a result of that, when you’ve got this information, we needed to look at how to use it a little bit better.”
And the Tigers are using the information to good use as they sift through the records to come up with many special awards that will be presented at the awards night next year.
“I thought there were a lot of people in this club and community that don’t get recognised, they’ve put a lot of work in, and that might mean they’ve put in a certain amount of time but haven’t made it to a life membership,” he said.
“Those people still need to be recognised, and there are a lot of them in cricket clubs. We’ve had something like over 900 players play for our club, and that’s only since 1960.
“From 1922, when we were established, we’ve got no records, so I’ve got nothing to give, so 60 years is not bad, some clubs are a lot less, some are a lot more.
“We’ve never done our team of the decades, we want to do some Silver Jubilee teams, so the best 12 of a 25-year period, our services awards, and also create a Hall of Fame. Everything’s there statistically, so all we need to do now is filter it out and put it together.
“I know some clubs in the DDCA have got a Hall of Fame, some have team of the decades, I’m not sure a lot of them have got everything.
“We like to pioneer; we like to be one of the clubs that leads from the front, so we thought why not?”
McMahon said that the response to the Hall of Fame Awards Night has been extremely positive, with many great names having flowed through the doors of the club over the last 60 years.
“Talking to people around the traps, everyone’s pretty responsive to it, they want to see who the best cricketers was of their time, they want to see cricketers from the 1960s come to an event now, they want to talk to them,” he said.
“You look around the club, there’s Mark Betheras, Ron Allan, Alan Richards, Brad Miles, Glenn Marinic, George Cunningham, there’s plenty of them, they’ve just never been recognised.
“We’ve got players at our own level that are pretty standout sort of cricketers, Jason Dodd is another that comes to mind, Peter Goodes is another one, just icons of the cricket club that have done a lot over there time. There are others too.”
And with the planning of the event, as well as organising who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame and into the various other awards, McMahon urged anyone who’s been associated with the club to jump online and purchase a ticket.
“When you do a lot of planning for an event, the one thing you need is the people to come,” he said.
“I’d love to put a figure on it, I haven’t had anyone I’ve spoken to say no, and there’s been over 100 invited guests, so you won’t get them all, but hopefully 150 with partners could be there.
“That could escalate, and that’s without anyone else within the club or community that wants to come.
“We want anyone who’s been involved with the club to come and share a special night, that’s what it’s about for us.”
The event will be held at the Cardinia Culture Centre in Pakenham on Saturday 2 May, with tickets $90 each. For tickets, head to Beaconsfield.vic.cricket.com.au
If anyone would like any more information, they can contact Michael McMahon on 0448 880 121
