Almanac Cricket: Yabba – A witty barracker
With the Sydney Test taking place at the moment it is an opportune time to reprise the story of ‘Yabba’ , the renowned ‘heckler’ of the Sydney Cricket Ground, that was published on the site a few years ago.
Statue of Yabba at the Sydney Cricket Ground created by Cathy Weiszmann,
With all the controversy surrounding crowd behaviour at AFL games it is interesting to reflect upon ‘barracking’ at sporting events, particularly as seen in the past.
The following information is published in Wikipedia about the legendary barracker Yabba.
Stephen Harold Gascoigne, better known as Yabba, (19 March 1878 – 8 January 1942) was an Australian sports fan, remembered as a heckler at Sydney Cricket Groundcricket and rugby league games in the early part of the 20th century. Yabba was known for his knowledgeable witticisms shouted loudly from “The Hill”, a grassy general admissions area of the SCG.
In Yabba’s era, cricket matches were watched like tennis matches, and spectators at the SCG were much quieter than today. This is the reason Yabba’s comments were so clearly heard by players and other spectators.
‘The Hill’ area was replaced with seating in the early 1990s. The new area was then formally named Yabba’s Hill in honour of his colourful comments, several of which have passed into cricketing folklore. In 2007 the Doug Walters Stand and Yabba’s Hill were demolished to make way for the new Victor TrumperStand. On 7 December 2008 a bronze statue of Yabba, sculpted by Cathy Weiszmann, was unveiled at the Sydney Cricket Ground in The Hill area of the new stand. It depicts Yabba in a characteristic pose, one hand acting as a megaphone, in the act of delivering one of his famous interjections. [1]
Yabba was portrayed by Paul Chubbin the 1984 mini-series Bodyline.
Some of Yabba’s best remembered insults include:
- “I wish you were a statue and I were a pigeon.”
- Telling a fly-swatting English cricket captain, Douglas Jardine, to “Leave our flies alone, Jardine. They’re the only friends you’ve got here.”
- “Send ‘im down a piano, see if ‘e can play that!”
- “Oh for a strong arm and a walking stick!” (at bad bowling; leg spinner Arthur Mailey, a regular victim of this one, quotes it several times in his book 10 for 66 and All That)
- “Those are the only balls you’ve touched all day!” (To an English batsman adjusting his box in between overs).
- “Put a penny in him, George, he’s stopped registering” (To umpire George Borwick who readgas meters and emptied the cash boxes for a living, when Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudiwas scoring slowly)
- “Your length’s lousy but you bowl a good width!” (To an opposition bowler)
To read more about Yabba, check out the following links
http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/269159.html
https://lynnwalsh.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/remembering-yabba-a-sydney-cricket-ground-character/
http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/gascoigne-stephen-harold-yabba-6286
Read Colin Thiele’s poem about barracking HERE.
Our writers are independent contributors. The opinions expressed in their articles are their own. They are not the views, nor do they reflect the views, of Malarkey Publications.
Do you really enjoy the Almanac concept?
And want to ensure it continues in its current form, and better? To help keep things ticking over please consider making your own contribution.
Become an Almanac (annual) member – CLICK HERE
One off financial contribution – CLICK HERE
Regular financial contribution (monthly EFT) – CLICK HERE
About Almanac Admin
Yabba spent all day harassing an English fieldsman on the boundary near him, eventually telling him how ugly he was and that he was sick of looking at him.. The young player got tired of this and complained to Captain Jardine who sent the gnarly old pro Patsy Hendren to field there.
Patsy was halfway to the boundary when Yabba yelled “send the kid back”.
Do we prefer wit in slavery or the dim-witted in freedom?
Richard Cashman also wrote a biography of Yabba (Walla Walla Press, 2015)
I’m in two minds about barracking. In my poem, A Footy Crowd (1999) I wrote in part:
A footy crowd
is not about
being locked into a season’s ticket
sitting next to some loud-mouth dickhead
you wouldn’t normally waste spit on.
Footy Park is bad enough.
Docklands, the worst nightmare to come.
A footy crowd
is about being able to put space
between yourself
and the source of your aggravation.
Today I’ll be watching Goodwood Saints v Brighton at the Brighton Oval. If any dickhead is aggravating me I’ll move my chair somewhere else.
Love this. Some cracking lines.
JTH, do you have the text to “The Oval Barracker” handy? It is removed from the link. I love Thiele’s ‘The Mushroomer’ and am always interested in reading his poetry – which is hard to find.
With the PINK Sydney Test starting today, as well as PINK ball Tests being in existence, it got me thinking of doing a World cricket team of different colours.
Each colour can only be used once and it can be the player’s first name, surname, part of their surname or their nickname. It doesn’t matter about the spelling. The colour can only be used once
Alfred Pink was only selected because of the PINK Test, as the concussion sub. Graham YaLLOp (yellow) was selected because he was needed to strengthen the batting and to be the captain of this team. Ray BRIGHT was included to strengthen the bowling and bright colours.
Here is the World Cricket Colours Team:
1. Bill BROWN (22 Tests Australia 1934-48/brown)
2. Ian REDpath (66 Tests Australia 1964-76/red)
3. Graham YaLLOp (39 Tests Australia 1976-84/yellow)
4. Greg “BLUEy” Blewett (46 Tests Australia 1995-2000/blue)
5. Cameron GREEN (28 Tests Australia 2020-present/green)
6. OLIVEr Davies (13FC NSW 2020/21-present/olive)
7. Jack BLACKham (wk) (35 Tests Australia 1877-94/black)
8. Cameron WHITE (c) (4 Tests Australia 2008/white)
9. Ray BRIGHT (25 Tests Australia 1977-86/bright colours)
10. Josh HAZELwood (71 Tests 2013-present/hazel)
11. Tony GRAY (5 Tests West Indies 1986-87/grey)
12th man: Clive ROSE (10 FC Vic/Tas 2012-16/rose)
Concussion Sub: Alfred PINK (1 FC Hampshire 1885/pink)
Coach: Darren Lehmann (Lemon)
This team will play an exhibition match against the World Cricket Team of Body Parts.
The match will be shown live on COLOURED television. Commentary will be provided by Bill Lawry, who will make sure there’s plenty of colour. Greg “BLUEY” Blewett will be mic’d up.
The players will be allowed to wear COLOURED clothing on the field.
The venue will be WHITE Stadium in Boston, Massachusetts.
Transport will be JetBLUE Airways.
Entertainment will be the songs “A WHITE Sport Coat (and a PINK Carnation)” by Marty Robbins and “GREEN GREEN Grass of Home”, by Tom Jones.
Refreshments will be LEMONade, LEMON squash and Earl GREY tea.
Let’s hope for a good game of cricket without any major BLUES on the field. Instead, let’s hope for a COLOURFUL game!