I must confess I loved cricket when I was little. More to the point, I loved go to cricket with my Dad.
We lived in a small town that had a cricket club, with games played every weekend at the cricket grounds. The grounds were nothing special, they were surrounded by bushland and looking back it probably wasn’t much more than a cement strip in the middle of an oval. Families could sit under the lean to, which was just a tin roof on top of poles.
The grounds were maintained by the locals and many working bees were attending in the 8 years that we lived there. While the parents worked, us kids would have races from one side of the oval to the other. Oh to have even a bit of that energy now! We also loved working bees because that meant piles of dirt. Piles of dirt meant slides, rivers and trucks, much to our mother’s dismay.
The cricket club had a canteen on match days and I would pester my mum for chips and drink. Pleading that I was starving but couldn’t possibly eat any of the food she had bought along. The giant water cooler was also nothing in comparison to a can of Golden Pash, especially if everyone else was having one.
With the cricket season in summer it also meant sunburn. The hat my mother insisted I wear was discarded as soon as we were out of sight. Things were much more laid back in a small town. We would go exploring, looking for rocks, new paths and sometimes stumbling on slimy reptiles. This would always send us screaming back to our parents!
My life has always been filled with sport. My Dad will watch anything that looks like a competitive sport. My childhood was filled with cricket in the summer and Footy in the winter. Even now at 53 he regularly participates in team sports, mainly Touch Football.
Did you grow up watching sport?
I actually didn’t grow up watching sport (though I was taken by the neighbours to Amaroo Park to watch the cars and loved it). I think it’s lovely that you have those shared memories with your dad. I love that he still participates…
Mum often has to remind me that he’s not a young fit 20 something when he gets an injury but yep he still loves his sport!
Love your memories … I am not and never have been into sport. Something to do with having two left hands, terrible hand eye coordination, and who knows what else!!! 😉
haha I have all of those things too, hence why my sport of choice is swimming. No ball to drop then!
I just can’t seem to get the breathing thing happening with swimming – hopeless!
Yes, I was forced to watch sport as a child, it was the only thing we were allowed to watch well that and docos but I’ve confessed all that and more. I possibly have a few sporting issues but I’m working on them honest 😉
ah no wonder you hate it so much! A child being forced to do anything is usually going to grow to hate it.
I didn’t play any sport as a child, however my parents obsessively followed the NRL and supported the then Balmain Tigers so we always went to the games. I would take a book and read while sitting in the grand stand, as it bored me. Shut up…
Paul is a huge Tigers fan too. I take it as time to put earphones in and muck around on the computer lol.
Watching, playing and everything to do with sport. I got my son involved because I figured that that a boy with a ball was going to get into less trouble than one without.
As for cricket, it is not big in the States, but in my neck of the world (the S.F. Bay Area-Southern Alameda County) it is becoming more popular with the influx of people from India. I see a lot of people playing it in the parks. I have tried it and it is a lot different than baseball-lol.
Haha yes it is a lot different to Baseball.
We absolutely grew up watching sport. Even now it doesn’t feel like summer unless I have the cricket on the tv in the back ground.
I was the youngest so grew up following my older sister & brother to their sports, tennis & cycling where I would run with the younger siblings like you describe. As I got older I was heavily into netball and of course all us kids lived half our child hood at the race track because dad was a horse trainer.
I love that my kids are now old enough to be getting into sports of their own, memories are getting made for them 🙂
I’d love for Mr 4 to get into a sport but I think we’ll need to get on top of his anxiety first as at the moment it’s a struggle to get him out of the house.
Yes we all grew up watching some kind of sport . My other 2 sisters played hockey and i did Ballet i was the only one who continued with it till i got my qualifications 🙂 My daughter now plays netball and is very good at it i must say (i was terrible) with sports at school lol
I hated sports at school too, well at least in High school anyway.
The only sport I grew up watching was cricket or the motor racing tapes that my Dad used to bring home. To me it’s not summer without the cricket on in the background. The sound of Richie’s voice could always lull me in to a totally relaxed state, even now it still does!
The cricket just wasn’t the same this season without the voices of the greats!
Only some types of car racing…I’ve never been one for watching sports!
I can’t watch car racing, puts me to sleep lol!
Good memories Tegan. I remember spending lots of time watching sport on the TV with my Dad. On days where it was blazing hot outside we’d crank up the A/C and watch the cricket, with the Popcorn soundtrack playing on the side. It was hilarious watching the players move (coincidentally) in time with the record (yes, it was an LP crackling in the background). Good memories!
That sounds like an awesome way to spend a summers day!
I loved growing up in our small town. Lots of memories similar to your on the Cricket and Hockey fields.
Growing up in a small town definitely has it’s advantages!
I grew up playing netball. That was until I did my knee. Then my friend, introduced me to AFL. I did have an interest to it previously, but after I attended my first game, I became obsessed.
Thanks for sharing your memories. They show how much love you have for your Dad & the time you spent together.
I’ve watched a few AFL games and I just can’t get into it. One of my friends went to a game in Melbourne last year and she said the atmosphere was amazing.
Thanks for sharing your memories. It brought back some lovely memories of my own 🙂
didn’t grow up watching sport so much as my Dad was only really into golf and tennis. I don’t know if my Mum ever watched sport on TV. We did play a lot of different sports at school though and I’m grateful for the variety I was exposed to. It certainly helps with the nerves of signing up try something new now.
I wasn’t a big fan of school sport..we had a pushy sexist teacher and it kind of lost its shine for me.
My dad sounds similar to your dad! Lover of all things sport, so hence we are as well. When all else fails I love just having sport on the telly in the background and come and go! Am loving that the Olympics are on at the moment!!!