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Long time between 1st Grade Matches

Tomorrow Phil Coe will return to the 1st Grade side of North Canberra-Gungahlin after almost a 14 year hiatus. In doing this he becomes the player with the third highest number of days between 1st Grade matches in ACT 1st Grade history.

The highest is Marcus Cosgrave who played for Western District-UC and had 6230 days between 1990 and 2007. Marcus played 14 matches for Wests in 1st Grade between 1985/86 and 1989/90 and then two matches on his return in 2006/07.

Next is Harry Oldfield who played for Queanbeyan and he missed 5362 days between 1934 and 1948. A mitigating circumstance for Harry was that there was no competition cricket in the ACT between 1940/41 and 1946/47. Harry played for Queanbeyan between 1930/31 and 1933/34 and then between 1948/49 and 1952/53, playing 36 matches in total and also representing the FCT (as it was then known) in 1931/32.

Phil Coe is next on the list with 5095 days. A wicket-keeper, Phil has so far played 60 matches between 1998/99 and 2004/05 but has been a stalwart of the lower grades since then.

Paul Nemes missed 4655 days between 2000/01 and 2013/14 when he played a single match. Phil played his final match for Tuggeranong Valley after playing 148 1st Grade matches in total, three of which were for Queanbeyan. His previous match was for Queanbeyan while his previous match for Tuggeranong Valley was in 1998/99. For days between Tuggeranong 1st Grade matches it is 5390.

Robbie van Aalst missed 4307 days between matches for Western District-UC. He missed 1st Grade matches between 2004/05 and 2016/17, playing 24 matches in his 1st Grade career, 18 between 2002/03 and 2004/05 and 6 from 2016/17 to 2017/18.

Paul Stephens missed 4053 days between 1994/95 and 2005/06 for Norths. He played 65 matches between 1985/86 and 1994/95 for Northern Suburbs and Canberra North Daramalan and played a further two matches for North Canberra-Gungahlin in 2005/06.

The final player with more than 4000 days between matches is Alan Lea. Alan Lea missed 4039 days between 1937/38 and 1948/49. He played 87 1st Grade matches in total for Westridge (1926/27), Canberra (1927/28) and Kingston (1928/29-1937/38 and 1948/49-1949/50). He also played for the FCT between 1928/29 and 1931/32.

Most Days between ACT 1st Grade Matches

6230 Marcus Cosgrave (1990-2007)

5362 Harry Oldfield (1934-1948)

5095 Phil Coe (2004-2018)*

4655 Phil Nemes (2001-2013)

4307 Robbie van Aalst (2005-2017)

4053 Paul Stephens (1995-2006)

4039 Alan Lea (1938-1949)

Three Brothers in the same 1st Grade side

Yesterday for the first time since 1937/38, three brothers played in the same ACT 1st Grade side. Jason, Benji and Tim Floros played for Tuggeranong Valley against Ginninderra in their 18 run victory.
Benji and Tim have played for the ACT but have not played in the same side together. Jason has come back to play 1st Grade for Tuggeranong Valley after played First-Class and List A cricket for Queensland. He has yet to play a senior match for the ACT despite playing Youth Cricket for the ACT and representing the Australia Under 19 side.
 
In 1937/38, Les, Bede and Francis Reardon played together for Hall during that season. Additionally, they all played for the ACT during the Country Week competition in Sydney that season as well.
 
In 1922/23 for Ainslie, four Maloney brothers – William, Valentine, Edward and Lisle all played together in matches that season. Their cousins John and Robert also played for the side in the same season.
 
The family did better in 1925/26 with five Maloney brothers played in the same side. The four brothers were joined by their youngest brother Harry in the side who made his debut at 15 years of age.
 
Four of the Maloney brothers played for the ACT, only Valentine did not play for the Territory and only three brothers played for the Territory at the same time.

Test Scorer #3 – Charles Hipwell

Born in 1810, Charles Hipwell was the earliest known born of all Australian Test Match scorers. He was born in Bermondsey in London. Bermondsey is located downstream from Tower Bridge. Like Hugh Kennon, he ran a public house in London, the Running Horse which is still in existence in Mayfair. He lived in Woolwich in Kent and emigrated to Melbourne in the early 1850s. In 1856, he started scoring for the Melbourne Cricket Club which he continued for the next 24 years. He scored most of the major matches in Melbourne during that time, including matches between Victoria and the touring English side in 1863/64 and the match between the Melbourne Cricket Club and the Aboriginal side in 1866. He also travelled as the scorer for the Victorian side to Sydney and Tasmania. Despite being the scorer for the Melbourne Cricket Club, he was not selected to be the scorer for the first two Tests held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. His one and only Test Match was the 1879 Test Match which he scored with William Plummer. In 1867, he was elected as a councillor for the Borough of Prahan and was elected as the Mayor from 1873 to 1874. Hipwell worked at the Carlton Brewery during his time in Melbourne and on the occasion of his golden wedding anniversary was presented with gifts from his workplace where he was “referred to as an old and well respected resident in Prahan.” In 1886, Charles Hipwell passed away at his residence in Prahan at the age of 75. He left a wife, Mary Ann who died 11 years later and three daughters.

Test Scorer #2: WAK Plummer

Born in Brighton on the coast of England in the County of Sussex in 1837, William Andrew Knight Plummer was also the scorer in first three Test Matches in Australia in 1877 and 1879. He emigrated with his William Plummer was associated with the East Melbourne Cricket Club being on the committee as early as 1861 serving roles such as Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The earliest record of him scoring was in 1865, when he was noted as the scorer for a match between East Melbourne and Ballarat. In 1864, he was elected as a committee member at the inaugural meeting of the Victoria Cricketers’ Association and in 1867 he was elected as Treasurer of the Melbourne Cricket Club. In 1868, he married Eliza Passmore and they had five children over the next 11 years. By 1874, he was associated with the South Melbourne Cricket Club as their umpire.

He worked for the General Post Office as a clerk in the money order branch until 1874 when he was dismissed from office due to a deficiency in his accounts. The matter reached as high as the Victorian Legislative Assembly but by 1876 he was being declared insolvent. His luck changed when he was selected to be a temporary Town Clerk for the Borough of Essendon and Flemington. Throughout the late 1870s and early 1880s, he was elected, most unopposed as the Auditor for the Borough, until 1885 when he was challenged by Charles Arvier who had also scored a Test Match in 1882. Plummer won the vote in 1885 with almost 75% of the vote. Plummer passed away in 1887 at the young age of just 49. He was a long term scorer for the Victorian colonial side, scoring for them from the late 1860s till at least 1880.

Test Scorer #1: Hugh Stanley Kennon

Scored the 1st Test match at the MCG with William Plummer. Born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England in 1839. His father was born on the Isle of Man. The second eldest of 13 children, the family emigrated to Melbourne when he was 2. He was a barman at the Black Eagle Hotel in the early 1860s and took over the licence for running the hotel in 1865 from his father, William. He was also manager of the Setting Sun Gold Mining Company. He was the scorer in the first two Test matches but have not found a club he was associated with. He died in 1901 at the age of 61 leaving an estate worth 2,170 pounds.

Wallabies & Sydney 1st Grade Cricketers

Following on from my post on 1st Grade Rugby League and Sydney 1st Grade Cricketers. I have a list of 1st Grade cricketers who also represented the Australian Rugby Union side.

  • Patrick Carew
  • Otto Nothling
  • Johnny Taylor
  • Neville Emery
  • Jack Maddocks
  • Saxon White
  • Alec Ross
  • Percival Penman
  • Arthur Mayne
  • Alan Walker
  • John Solomon
  • David Knox
  • Eric Tweedale
  • Ron Biilmann
  • Ward Prentice
  • Stephen James

If anyone has any additions or those who have played for their state in Rugby Union and Sydney 1st Grade cricket please let me know.

1st Grade Cricket & Rugby League Players

There have been 40 players so far who have played 1st Grade cricket in the Sydney (now New South Wales) Competition and also 1st Grade in the NSWRL/ARL/NRL competitions.

  1. Ferris Ashton (Eastern Suburbs)
  2. Albert Bowden (Glebe)
  3. Leslie Cody (Eastern Suburbs)*
  4. Herbert Collins (Eastern Suburbs)*
  5. Bronco Djura (South Sydney, St George, Western Suburbs)
  6. George Duffin (Western Suburbs)
  7. Bill Farnsworth (Newtown)
  8. Andrew Fitzhenry (Penrith, Parramatta)
  9. Steve Funnell (St George, Western Suburbs, Eastern Suburbs)
  10. Reg Fusedale (South Sydney, St George)
  11. Reg Gasnier (St George)*
  12. Jack Gibson (Eastern Suburbs, Newtown, Western Suburbs)
  13. Tom Gillogly (Canterbury-Bankstown, Balmain)
  14. Frank Gilmore (Newtown, Balmain)
  15. Max Godfrey (Western Suburbs)
  16. John Gray (North Sydney, Manly-Warringah)
  17. Mark Hughes (Canterbury-Bankstown)*
  18. Garry Hughes (Canterbury-Bankstown)*
  19. Graeme Hughes (Canterbury-Bankstown)*
  20. Bill Ives (Glebe, Eastern Suburbs, St George)
  21. Les Johns (Canterbury-Bankstown)
  22. Ray Lees (Balmain)
  23. Ray Lindwall (St George)
  24. Jock Livingston (South Sydney)
  25. Des Mullarkey (St George)
  26. David Niu (St George)
  27. Rex Norman (Annandale, South Sydney, Eastern Suburbs)
  28. Corey Pearson (Balmain, St George, St George-Illawarra, Wests Tigers, Parramatta)
  29. Ward Prentice (Western Suburbs)
  30. Jack Raynor (South Sydney)*
  31. John Rheinberger (Eastern Suburbs)*
  32. Pat Richards (Parramatta, Wests Tigers)*
  33. Jack Scott (Newtown)
  34. Dudley Seddon (Newtown)
  35. James Smith (Eastern Suburbs/Sydney City, Western Suburbs, South Sydney)
  36. Geoff Spotswood (Western Suburbs, Canterbury-Bankstown)
  37. Roy Turner (University)
  38. Alan Walker (Manly-Warringah)
  39. Lyall Wall (Balmain, Annandale, Western Suburbs, St George)*
  40. George Wheatley (Balmain, North Sydney)

Those listed with asterisks have also played in a winning 1st Grade Rugby League Grand Final.

Only Jack Raynor (for South Sydney – Rugby League and Paddington – Cricket) and Graeme Hughes (for Canterbury-Bankstown – Rugby League and Petersham-Marrickville – cricket) have won 1st Grade Finals in Cricket and Rugby League.

Steve Funnell, Jack Gibson, Ray Lindwall and Rex Norman played in losing Grand Finals in Rugby League.

Rex Norman and Graeme Hughes are the only two players to play for New South Wales in both sports.

With thanks to David Middleton who supplied some of the information.

If anyone has anyone else who may fit into this category, please leave a comment or contact me through social media.