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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-23 Daily Xml
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Glenelg District Cricket Club

Mr PATTERSON (Morphett) (15:34): The Glenelg District Cricket Club, known as the Seahorses, was established in 1907 and is located at Glenelg Oval on Brighton Road, Glenelg, and has just started playing matches for the upcoming season. The club held its annual general meeting on 10 September, and at that meeting club president, Bob Snewin, retired after 28 years in the role as president. That represents a lot of overs bowled and many runs scored.

Even before becoming president, Bob had been heavily involved with the club. Bob first served on the board in 1970, 48 years ago. When he first joined the board, Dick Niehuus, Sam Starling, Leith Jacob, Brian Illman, Murray Sargent and Martin Chappell were also members of the board and were his mentors. In Bob's words, 'These people engendered into me the spirit of the club.'

Martin Chappell was a hard taskmaster. You may recognise the surname, as he was the father of two famous products of the Glenelg Cricket Club, Australian captains Ian and Greg Chappell, both of whom played for Glenelg in the late sixties and early seventies. Ian and Greg first batted together in a semifinal in 1966. This was prior to the professional era that sees full-time cricketers rarely play for their district cricket club. Bob can recall the exciting times when he was first on the board having Ian captain Australia between 1971 and 1975, while Greg debuted for Australia in the 1970-71 Ashes series.

The 1973-74 season saw Glenelg win the A-grade premiership for the first time since 1953-54. Around this time, Bob had a young family and was running a business and stepped down from the board for a number of years, before returning to the club in the 1980s. The cricket clubrooms were built in 1978 and located on the north-western side of the oval, with the club raising $50,000 and taking out a $120,000 loan.

Bob stepped up to the role of club president in 1990, originally advising the board that he would give them five years and review it then. At the time, the club was in some financial turmoil, with the facilities being rundown. In spite of this, Bob set about setting the club's finances in order, which in 1993 saw the loan that was taken out to build the clubrooms finally paid off. To help improve training conditions, the practice wickets were moved from behind the existing football scoreboard near the primary school entrance, which did not get much sun, over to the existing location at the north-eastern end along Rugless Terrace. Bob has sought to put resources into the juniors, as they are a good feeder into the senior teams.

In 1996-97, Glenelg were runners-up in the A-grade and, in 2002-03, Bob still recalls the heartbreak of scoring 367 runs against Kensington and not being able to break the partnership between Greg Blewett and Dean Waugh. That score would have won in any other year of the decade; however, the club did have success, winning five one-day premierships while Bob was president. Finally, in 2012-13, Glenelg won the A-grade premiership, with Bob saying, 'It was the reward all the volunteers, including myself, ever wanted.'

Since then, the club has introduced women's teams into the club, and the inaugural captain was Bob's daughter, Gemma, who is also involved in the club assisting with sponsorships. Bob's involvement has also led him to chairing grade cricket and he is the club delegate on the SACA Board. He has recently been reappointed for a further two-year term, so he is not lost totally to grassroots cricket here in South Australia. Glenelg's leading run scorer and club legend, Tom Plant, cannot speak more highly of Bob, saying:

Bob Snewin has been president for as long as I've been there. He's a close friend of mine and he has done more than anyone, and there are a lot of other good people.

Bob agrees, saying about his long time as president, 'The best part is the lifelong friends I have made in the role.' My best wishes go to incoming president, Jarret Moyse. Congratulations, Bob, on being a fantastic servant for the Glenelg Cricket Club, starting 48 years ago. It goes without saying that he would like to thank his wife, Jenny, and family for their support.

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