Sport
8 February, 2024
MKM brings up 90 years with incredible stories from yesteryear, as well as a big celebration
This is no ordinary run of the Mill. The MKM Cricket Club are celebrating their 90th anniversary tomorrow night at Princes Park, with over 100 people expected to celebrate one of Victoria’s most unique cricket clubs — one full of innovation and...
This is no ordinary run of the Mill.
The MKM Cricket Club are celebrating their 90th anniversary tomorrow night at Princes Park, with over 100 people expected to celebrate one of Victoria’s most unique cricket clubs — one full of innovation and a celebration of the immense talent that has taken them to a multitude of premierships across all grades of cricket.
The night of celebration, which will begin at 7 pm tomorrow night in the Princes Park function room, has been organised by long-time MKM stalwart Kenny O’Connor, who takes up the story.
“MKM has been a big part of my life since 1987. I did play with some other clubs, but I always went back to MKM,” he said.
“I have had some great friendships, some great success that A grade has had over the years, but also in the lower grades, where I played, and had a lot of success and some great cricketers out of there.”
O’Connor says at least 80 people have signalled their intention to come to the event, and that’s before even considering MKM’s current crop of players.
“I’ve sent invitations and received, over 80 RSVP’s, which doesn’t include current players,” he said.
“The legends are coming, memorabilia will be there, Ron Sinclair junior will be presenting the club with one of the first caps we had on Saturday night.
“Most people that played in the past, many of their children also played for MKM, such as Willy Radlof’s children and my children, which is a big part of the club. A lot of kids who played through juniors are also coming and there could be a lot more than 100.”
MKM are a club with a rich history which has focused on an aspect of being welcoming to all, with ideas that have long-preceded modern times.
The Mill were one of the first teams to form a ladies side, playing their first game in 1936, while also getting the opportunity to establish its chance to use the land owned by the Mill Board from 1950-51 onwards, where it still stands today.
The family club aspect is one thing that stands out to long-time MKM servant Gary Hutchinson.
“That’s the way it was in the latter years. Early on, every club used to struggle and so forth, and MKM was no different. However, MKM — the Maryborough Knitting Mill, had that backing where there were 350 workers in my era and all those people were behind us,” he said.
The closure of the knitting mill, according to Hutchinson, was a catalyst for MKM’s status as one of the most unique clubs in Victoria.
After all, the club owned their own ground at Ron Sinclair Oval, now known as Mr Mobility Oval, and with that came the opportunity to preserve their own history in a way only MKM could.
“When the knitting mill closed, it became a bit more difficult and we had to go outside the square to make money,” Hutchinsonsaid.
“We did that successfully, and we always said we were well off in relation to that, and that helped by allowing us to buy good equipment, which attracted good players.
“A lot of work went into preserving our history, and I think a lot of that comes back to owning our own ground too, and because we did so, we had to do the work. So many turned up to do the working bees because it was ours.
“I had no qualms with ever going away from MKM to join another club, and no one asked either way because they probably thought I wouldn’t.”
A multitude of club legends all think the same way, with the likes of Robert Williams, Col Elliott, Ron Sinclair senior, Neville Spokes, Keith Templeton all spending an incredible amount of time at the club, representing the Mill with the highest distinction.
Atrel Turner is another who looks back with a great amount of pride from his time at MKM, and agrees with Hutchinson about the enjoyment of being able to do their own thing the way that MKM wanted to.
“We just loved playing there. We cut the grass, rolled our wickets, did everything. We did it without any complaint, and we were just happy to do it,” he said.
“The reason why I ended up playing cricket for MKM was that I lived in Napier Street at the time, and I was amazed to go and watch these guys play cricket.
“I was only five then, and I thought looking at the Col Trickey’s, Keith Templeton’s, it wasn’t a bad sort of a team.
“Then in the winter, MKM had a baseball team, so I would go and watch that. So I basically lived at the ground, around the corner, and that was the reason I became involved.
“When you start playing with the likes of Gary Hutchinson, his brother, Bruce and Col, and you see how good these guys are, and you start looking up to these guys, plus a brilliant coach in Ron Sinclair, you are not going to leave a cricket club with those kinds of people in them.
“To play with some of those characters, such as ‘Barney’ Hubble and Billy Hart, some of those guys I looked up to, I lost my dad at 11, so I had these father figures at the club, and it was a family to me way back then. I struck up friendships with people like Hutchy, and I’ve known him since I was very young too. He was the heart and soul of our cricket club for a very long time.
“The thing is you were proud to say you were a part of the MKM Cricket Club, and the work that we did at the club. We were only too happy to put time back in.”
Each of O’Connor, Hutchinson and Turner could only speak highly of Col Trickey’s influence on the club.
“The best batsman to come out of the Maryborough association is Col Trickey, who played over 300 games with the club, mostly in A grade, and made 9000 runs and 30 hundreds,” O’Connor said.
Turner echoed these sentiments.
“Col is renowned for being one of the best batsmen in country Victoria. At the time, he was rated as the second-best batsmen. Henry Gunston, from Ararat, was rated as the best country cricketer at the time,” he added.
And as for the man himself?
“It means everything,” Trickey said.
“I had 33 years of playing with MKM. I started with Maryborough at 15, had two years, and went to the knitting mill to work, and they said I was playing here. That’s where I finished up.”
Trickey was well-renowned not just for his work for MKM, but for the Maryborough District Cricket Association as a whole, particularly at a representative level.
He recalls some of his favourite stories from there as a member of MKM.
“One of the highlights was when we won the Provincial Shield at Country Week in 1963, we were playing Wangaratta at St James Park, and we got them out for 88. Ken Gibbs got eight wickets that day. We batted before lunch, we were 7/51 at one stage, and I made 73 not out and we won,” he said.
“The other highlight is playing on the MCG and beating Shepparton the same year. To walk out on the MCG was unreal.”
It was a stamp of his authority on his leadership style while at MKM, but, like many others, he says it was a real family aspect which drove the club.
“They were all good people. Ron Sinclair was the one who really started it all, with the Mill owning the ground. Ron went to management and asked to use the ground, and they said yes. If you wanted to go ahead and do it, you’d be reimbursed if anything happens, but that didn’t work out,” he said.
That included the likes of visionary president Graham Neil and the recruitment of Neville Dooly, who was instrumental in helping MKM return to league powerhouses in the late 1970s.
“We were fortunate to get Neville from Dunolly. Graham and I did that, coming back from Country Week one year, and said we wanted someone who could captain the club. And he was the logical choice, and that’s where the club flew,” he said.
Turner also had high praise for Neil and Dooly.
“The strength of the cricket club was within the administration. We had a great guy in Graham Neil.
“Beforehand, we had rolling presidents who would sit in the chair for around two years, but he took on the role and we were like a professional organisation because of the way he structured it.
“We had Nev Dooly as captain, and we were feared by our opposition because of our approach to our game, it was amazing,” he said.
“We had a period for a while, and when Graham took over as president, he said we must become more organised and more professional in our approach, so we approached Nev to become captain and he said he would come under his conditions, and said what he wanted.
“He wanted players gone, as they were playing as individuals rather than as a team, and we suddenly clicked. It was amazing.
“When Graham heard of a new school teacher, a banker or policeman coming into town, he would approach them straight away asking if they played cricket, so they would go straight to MKM, as we had great facilities and enough money for really good equipment. That’s the kind of thing that makes this club so good.”
Hutchinson also added the culture of the club was beyond its years in his time at the club, particularly with its attitude towards women and kids.
“We had a person by the name of John Gawne, who came to the club from Shepparton, and he virtually started the ‘let’s go back to my place’ after the game, and that snowballed the family-orientation of the club as the wives came to watch and so did the kids,” he said.
“We had a feed, had good facilities, went to other people’s houses after the game, and everyone was like a family.
“That’s why so many wanted to join our club. We always had plenty of good players, and that stood out when we won so many premierships over the years.”
In modern times, the club are currently struggling in A reserve, sitting in seventh position, but O’Connor assures there’s plenty of work going on behind the scenes to maintain the history and preserve MKM’s status as a well-respected club.
“We aren’t getting too many wins on the board, but it’s a big thing for us to get the club around socially, and getting back on an even field, that’s what we’re hoping to do,” he said.
“Behind the scenes, there’s a lot of work getting put in. Our visiting clubrooms aren’t quite done yet, but that will be finished in the next 12 months, and there are also grants for new nets at the moment.
“The work that Willy does with the wicket and the ground is perfect, its never looked like it is now, ever.”
Trickey is also hoping for the best for his old club.
“I’m proud of the whole club and also to be involved in the club,” he said.
“They have been in a little bit of trouble, but I’m hoping it all works out with the people they have.”
And Turner is looking forward to re-telling all the great stories to club legends.
“Luckily enough, there’s still so many fantastic people who are around. We will all probably be hoarse by the end of the night, as we have so many stories. I have so many magnificent memories of this cricket club,” he said.
