Date of Event
Prahran Cricket Club :
Mon Feb 18, 2013 9:52AM
The Legendary, Mr David Mandie
By Paul Amy, Sports Editor - Leader Newspapers
IAN Crawford has said it many times: without David Mandie, there would be no Prahran Cricket Club.
The former True Blues president repeated it on Saturday, recounting how, when the club had crippling council rent of $53,000 for nine years, Mandie ensured every cent was paid.
``If it wasn't for David Mandie, we wouldn't be here today,'' Crawford said.
And he recalled how a photograph of the premiership-winning 1944-45 Prahran Second XI took pride of place in the businessman and philanthropist's office. Mandie captained the team and was proud of it, just as he was chuffed that he edged the great Sam Loxton out of a First XI batting average in 1942-43. There was .50 of a run between them.
Mandie joined the club in 1932-33 and was associated with it for 78 years, going from 10-year player to committeeman, treasurer, vice-president, Cricket Victoria delegate, hall-of-fame legend and patron-in-chief.
On Saturday Prahran recognised his towering contribution by naming the new $195,000 electronic scoreboard at Toorak Park after him.
The scoreboard was four years in the planning, nursed all the way by ex-president Phil Williamson. It was funded by a grant of $100,000 by the East Malvern branch of the Bendigo Bank, $40,000 from Cricket Victoria, $25,000 from Stonnington Council and contributions from the four sports clubs that call Toorak Park home. Cricket Victoria chiefs Geoff Tamblyn and Tony Dodemaide and bank chairman Peter Norman attended Saturday's opening.
Mandie, who died in 2011 at age 93, was represented by his daughter Evelyn Danos, who said her family was humbled. She said her father's passion for the club was unwavering.
``Even at age 92 Dad loved coming to this very ground to catch up with many associated with the club whom he had know over so many years, many not surprisingly much younger than he and some who are here today David Jukes, John Malligan, Val Holten, Col Hyland,'' she said.
``Dad was so relieved when it was finally settled that Prahran should remain at Toorak Park, where there had been such a long and rich history.''
Special Acknowledgment........Whilst Paul has rightfully acknowledged all of the contributions of City of Stonnington resident clubs and Cricket Victoria on behalf of our club, we would like to acknowledge the extremely generous support that we have received from Geoff Fontaine, Managing Director of Axent and his team including Project Manager Craig Natoli and Sales Director Peter Cestnick.
Quite simply without the support of Geoff and his company, this project would not have been possible. The fine craftsmanship and state of the art technology is all the work of Axent and we estimate that the financial contribution to the scoreboard is well in excess of $50,000. The Prahran Cricket Club on behalf of the Toorak Park Users Group expresses its sincere gratitude for the wonderful support received from the team at Axent.