I Remember When with Milton Rendell

I remember when we all played outside in any weather and any conditions – sounds bad but it was fun.

Some of the local ovals and courts were pretty basic, not great drainage in those days, but the game went on.

Netball used to be played in the mud on Harper Park, I remember watching a few old friends battle it out on the muddy grass courts in the pouring rain.

There was the top area on Harper Park where the senior teams use to play and then there were other courts down on Marshall Park as well.

In the mid and late 60s, like most little brothers I used to watch my sisters play with my bag of lollies from the canteen.

Janet my eldest sister played in defence and Irene played in attack as a goalie – I am still trying to work out how Irene ever played in attack, she is only five foot tall but boy she could shoot.

My daughters today play at the courts in Midvale, nice and clean and not muddy but yes they still play in the rain.

For us guys, we had some ripper grounds to play on such as the old Guildford wreck as we called it near the river – hard as concrete when dry and a mud bath when wet and it used to hold lots of water on the surface.

Midland Oval is another beauty with the clay middle wickets, boy they were so hard to run through.

I made the mistake of trying to bounce a ball in a game on the wicket yes and you guessed it I kept running and the ball stopped dead.

Lots of other ovals used to have the old concrete cricket pitches in the middle covered in sand in the winter.

Midvale had Pauly Park that would flood a lot but plenty of fine footballers played on that ground.

Brown Park in the later years of my playing days was probably the more modern oval but was still pretty wet and muddy in the early days. So winter was a busy time for the mums cleaning our muddy sodden shorts and skirts after a big weekend of sport.

For the guys, do you remember how the jumpers were made of wool and how heavy they used to get and smell as well.

And for the ladies who remembers the name of some of the old netball clubs like Sailors and Calypsos?

If you have any memories like mine, email memories@realestateplus.com.au.

-Milton Rendell, chief executive officer Real Estate Plus