Feb 04 2020

A long, long time ago ----------------------

Reflecting on memories many decades ago from the old Greg Chappell Cricket Centre (GCCC) on Dover Street at Albion, just a few numbers down the road from where the shop is situated today. In the 70s and 80s, it was set up primarily as a 4 lane indoor net facility with a little cricket shop at the front.

My first experience with the GCCC was as a young Sandgate/Redcliffe player where I would regularly practice there with my club mates. It was basically a big tin warehouse with nets set up in the back and it was, along with the Gabba, the only cricket specific indoor centre in town. Being on the Northside, it was convenient for guys from Sandgate/Redcliffe to utilise. It was pretty hot under the tin roof but we loved it.

In my early twenties, team mates such as Trent Ryan, Michael Ready and Greg Tibbits were my regular practice partners. It was a major haunt for other Northside players from Toombul and Norths and we’d cross paths many times during a summer season in our quest to improve our games. Everyone got on pretty well and it was common to have a net with guys from other clubs from time to time.

I can remember Phil Tufnell the former English spinner who had a season playing grade cricket for University coming along to the Albion facility for a bowl when he first arrived and he was one of many English players in that time who sampled Brisbane cricket and life in our hot climate.

As well as practising there many of us began our cricket coaching careers working at the GCCC School Holiday Camps, and along with running sessions in the indoor nets we’d also walk the kids down to Crosby Park ( Brothers rugby fields ) to do fielding drills and play games. The numbers of attendees were quite large and the camps were popular for several years.

Young players from that era who coached there included Ian Healy, Bernie Kelly, Greg Ellis and dozens of other cricketers who had ambitions to play as high as they could.

It was a great time and we enjoyed the opportunities owners Bill Buckle and Rod Rice gave us. Trevor Hohns was another of the operators who gave us opportunities and I for one, remain appreciative.

As the years went by I made sure that I called in regularly to have a chat with Bill and Rocket and witnessed the growth of the GCCC and later the transformation it took to become predominantly a cricket equipment store and then finally relinquishing the nets and coaching to fully concentrate on the equipment.

I enjoyed dropping in for half an hour and chatting to the guys who worked there over many years. People like Souths offspinner Bill Brown, Souths and Qld spinner John Hill, Bill’s wife Jill Buckle and so many other Brisbane cricket identities came and went but were part of a fabric that oozed atmosphere.

Many Brisbane cricketers were given job opportunities and many went on to bigger things but I can’t imagine they would have forgotten where they started.

Bill Buckle was a wonderful man who helped many young players and we owe him a lot. Bill was a very talented University batsman who scored a double century for Queensland. His wife Jill was a lovely and kind lady who always had a smile for us whenever we called into the shop.

Rod Rice is another Queensland Cricket institution – a former Souths legend, wicketkeeper and captain – and he was always in the shop and happy to have a yarn about the game. He is another fellow who has helped countless young players over the years and is still involved in the game. What a champion he is.

I can remember many a time standing out the back in the gear warehouse checking out the new equipment and chatting away to Rocket. Fantastic stuff.

Nearly forty years on I occasionally come across the kids we coached. Back then we threw balls to the kids, now we have state of the art machines and sidearms but the end result is really the same!

I have a vivid memory of a day where we were running a holiday clinic at the GCCC indoor nets and Greg Ritchie the Qld and Australian batsman walked in to say hello. He was dressed in a suit for work. We asked if he wouldn’t mind having a quick chat with the young group and he was happy to do so.

In fact, he decided the best thing to do would be to face a few balls from the new bowling machine so the kids could watch a few drives. Off came his suit jacket and he grabbed a bat and a set of gloves – that’s all he used.

The machine was wound up to a very sharp speed – seriously quick in fact as he insisted. He allowed the first couple to thud into the back canvas with loud bangs just to have a look at the pace. Let me tell you – there is no way a mere mortal batsman should have been facing this machine at such a pace wearing a pair of Julius Marlows, a formal outfit with a tie and a kids size 6 bat and a pair of old gloves…. disaster loomed.

He then faced three balls at maximum pace and hit all three fair and square in the middle of the bat. He was a freak of a batsman and should have played a hundred Tests! The group of kids loved it and I will never forget how easily he hit the ball.

The era of the Greg Chappell Cricket centre as a coaching facility is long gone and most probably not in the memory banks of today’s players, but it will be for those of my age.

The operation is now fully as an Australia wide cricket equipment store. Time marches on and obviously, the business dictated that gear was the way to go and it looks like they are still doing well but way back when we practiced and later coached the kids, it was a great part of our cricketing lives. Tremendous memories.

Greg Ritchie in full flight against England - 1985 Ashes Series







