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"The Originals" Pigs Cricket Club 97/98

By James Madden

The Pymble Pigs were born – quite fittingly – in a seedy drinking establishment.

Chatswood RSL, to be exact. A venue that, up until August 1997, was notable only for its sticky floor and midweek line dancing classes. But one night in August 1997, James Madden and Christopher Page strode through the doors of that geriatric ale house with a purpose. Their mission: to change the face of Australian cricket.

Madden had suggested to Page that they establish a team to play in the toughest league in the country – Gordon Junior Cricket Associaton C-Grade.

They decided on the team name of Pymble Pigs, because Pymble was deemed (probably incorrectly) to be halfway between their respective homes, and Pigs…well, it started with a P.

As they discussed the make-up of the team, Madden sipped on beers while Page alternated between West Coast Coolers and Strongbow White. It was not so much a meeting of selectors, as of two desperate men racking their brains to think of 9 other men who could help them fulfil their dream. To give you some idea of the enormity of this task, one of the first possible recruits mentioned was Michael “Paddy” Clear, a man of Irish heritage who had never graced a cricket field in all his 23 years. Who could have predicted some of the feats that man Clear would perform for the Pigs, both on and off the field?

Matt Seldon was another name tossed up. A work colleague of Madden’s, Seldon appeared keen, promising only that he “could swing a bat”. What sublime understatement. Seldon went on to become the greatest runscorer in Pig history, including a century in just the Pigs’ third match.

Jeff Wong-See was another candidate for the team. Madden and Page had both played schoolboy cricket with J-Wo so were only too aware of the man’s shortcomings as a cricketer. But he responded to the call and has since established himself as a genuine all-rounder.

Other Pig originals included Tim Brech and Matt Whitaker, both of whom played cricket of a standard well beyond belief. In the Pigs inaugural season, Brech almost killed a man with a trademark bouncer. Unperturbed, he simply hitched up his pants and returned to the top of his mark, awaiting the arrival at the crease of his next victim. Whitaker was content just to take a million wickets and smash a million runs.

Other original members of this motley crew included Ricky De Rosa, Mick Nivet, Kevin Maruno, Barney Chittick (who once took four wickets in four balls), Luke Fletcher and Shane Wedesweiler.

The Pigs managed to win their first match with only 7 players, beating West Pymble by 6 wickets. The legend was born. But of course since that historic 1997/98 season, scores of brave men (and one braver woman – thank you Kylie Barry) have represented the Pigs with honour.Several have also represented the team with dishonour but that is part of the folklore, or the ethos, of the Pigs.

Season 1997/98 saw the Pymble Pigs finish a valiant 5th. But the following year they stormed to the final, after demolishing and demoralising their arch-rivals NSW Maccabi in the semi.

Facing Putty Beach in the grand final, the Pigs knocked them over for only 117 but crashed to 4/12 overnight. After recovering to be but a bee’s dick away at 5/76, the pressure told and the Pigs were dismissed for 100, an agonising 18 runs shy of glory. It is known the boys from Putty did unspeakable things to a blow-up pig that night. Crude behaviour? Yes. But then again, Pigs are sexy beasts.

Two years later, the mighty Pigs again reached the grand final, only to go down by 34 runs to the West Pymble Manikatos despite heroic efforts by Whitaker, Page and Justin Fabo, and a less than heroic effort by the stone deaf umpire.

But these are just facts and figures about this great club, a mere scratching of the surface. For only the men (and woman) who have represented this mighty team can truly understand the beauty of being a Pig.