Time to celebrate a Southland grassroots sporting mainstay
“We’ve had more All Blacks than New Zealand cricketers.”
There is a pretty good reason why the Appleby Cricket Club means so much to Bill Donaldson and his family.
After all the Donaldson family’s involvement with Appleby stretches back to the 1920s.
Bill’s father lined up for the club in the late 1930s and he himself started playing in 1969.
“There are five generations of our family who have played [for Appleby],” Bill said.
To this day Bill remains a key member of the club as a historian and statistician.
Like many, he is looking forward to this weekend getting to celebrate one of New Zealand cricket’s more historic clubs.
Appleby folk from throughout New Zealand, and Australia for that matter, are converging on Invercargill to mark 125 years of the proud club.
Bill Donaldson has been a key driver over the years collating a remarkable club record of playing stats.
Those statistical spreadsheets are likely to be poured over this weekend when the past players recall their days lining up for the South Invercargill-based club.
“It’s sad but interesting reading for some people,” Clinton Goad - who has helped put on the 125th celebrations - joked.
Although the theme of the weekend is; “The older we get, the better we were”. So, there’s no use letting a pesky stat or two get in the way of a good story.
For interest’s sake, Jamie Clark has the record for most senior matches for Appleby with a remarkable 289 appearances. Clark is still playing and could potentially topple the 300-game mark this season.
Alan Thompson holds the club record for most runs with 5898 runs during his playing stint which stretched from 1983 to 1998. He also holds the record for most runs in a single season when he scored 757 runs during the 1991-92 summer.
AV Poole leads the wicket stakes with 600 wickets during his Appleby playing days which stretched from 1900 through to 1926.
Appleby’s most high-profile player has been Jeff Wilson, who is one of two Appleby cricketers who have represented New Zealand.
The other was JS Hiddleston who played for Appleby during the 1910/11 season before going on to play international cricket.
“We’ve had more All Blacks than New Zealand cricketers,” Donaldson pointed out.
Those All Blacks include Jeff Wilson, Simon Culhane, and Billy Stead, who was part of the 1905 Originals All Blacks team.
Goad said it would be a special weekend for the club.
After shifting south from Nelson, Goad linked with Appleby in 2005 and has been a mainstay at the club ever since as a player, committee member, junior coach, and groundsman.
“It is a testament to the guys that have come before us setting the club so well that it’s not a chore to run it.
“Some of us feel pretty privileged to be able to carry the mantle on,” Goad said.
The first reference to the Appleby Cricket Club dates back to 1897 when it fielded a junior team.
The club’s home was initially at Teviot St before shifting to Rugby Park.
In 1920 it moved to Appleby Park where the club has remained ever since.
Goad, Donaldson, Owen Ramsay, and Greg Munro have played a central role in putting on this weekend’s 125th celebrations.
It will start on Friday with 18 holes of golf at Queens Park 12pm before a function at the Langlands Hotel at night hosted by Jeff Wilson.
On Saturday those in attendance will gather at Appleby to watch the senior team take on the SBHS 1st XI, while down the road the club’s senior reserve team will play the SBHS 2nd XI.
“The cool thing about this 125th is that we’ve got a reasonably good buy-in from past members. There is a few travelling from Aussie, and a contingent from Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and stuff like that.
“It’s not just for the locals, guys have made a real concerted effort to make themselves available.”
Congratulations on 125 years Appleby and enjoy the weekend - there’s sure to be plenty of volunteers for the boundary run.