By David Nagel
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Sports historian and former Pakenham Gazette football scribe Bob Utber has decided to put his investigative skills to the fore.
Daughter Karen handed to him a grotty, in fact filthy, cricket shield she found while cleaning out the family home in Pakenham a few weeks ago.
None of the family members know why and how this prestigious cricket premiers shield was in the possession of, admittedly, a sports mad family, but there was no family connection in the time the shield was played for in the Kooweerup-Pakenham Cricket Association.
The Utber family, Bob, Michael, Janette and Timothy all played for Pakenham at some time but not in those years.
Busy polishing the trophy for a few days as well as researching the local papers, Bob was at a complete loss as to why the trophy would have been in the possession of his family.
“My love of sport history has seen me pull out all stops to put this cricket shield correct and safely ensconced in the 1962-63 premiers club rooms,” Bob explained.
“Too much sports history is being lost with the new infrastructure that is being built at sports grounds due to Council regulations so I hope the winners still have club rooms that can display their historic victories.
“Many local councils only allow sporting clubs to display their trophies during their playing season.
“Like many people I always go into sporting clubrooms in whatever town I am in at the time mainly to see who the local heroes were.
“I am bitterly disappointed with councils who have no consideration for sports history, the fabric that many towns were built on,” he concluded.
The first premiership on the shield was in season 1926-27 when Pakenham South, sometimes called South Pakenham/Kooweerup, defeated Kooweerup Footballers.
The game played at Pakenham saw Pakenham South 81 (Charlie Shelton 7/43) and 107 (Charlie Shelton 5/30) defeat the Footballers 70 and 61 by 57 runs.
No batter figured in anything sensational but the Kooweerup Sun noted that the star bat in the competition, Geoff Cobb, was run out for two in the Footballers second innings.
The members of the winning team were: A. Watson, W and E. Ellett, A.R. and M. Jeremiah, F. Stevenson, L. Schultz, G. Geddes, P. Brierly and J. Banks.
The last premiership (1957-58) inscribed on the shield was Koo-Wee-Rup (spelling on the shield) who comfortably beat Five Mile in the Grand Final.
Kooweerup 278: (Ray Levey 133, Roy Harvey 47) defeated Five Mile 95 (G. Glasscock 4/29) and 111 by an innings and 72 runs.
The winners were represented by Marcus, George and John Glasscock, Roy and Ron Harvey, Eric and Kelly Wealands, Ray Levey, Ben Broadbent, Dave McLachlan and Reg Hill.
Three father and son combinations were in the team.
Teams that won premierships in the 27 years inscribed were as follows: Tooradin (4) Lang Lang (4) Kooweerup East (3), Kooweerup West (3), Kooweerup (3), South Pakenham (3), Pakenham (3), Kooweerup Footballers (2), Officer (1) and Pakenham Stars (1).
In 1926-27 a team called Pakenham was premiers in the Dandenong-Berwick Association while Lang Lang was probably the best team in the district winning premierships in the Loch and District Association before coming back to Kooweerup-Pakenham.
A hint of why Lang Lang was so strong in this time was when they regularly supplied the first four batters for Country Week.
So, there are still five shields vacant from 1958-59 through to 1962-63.
Research in the Kooweerup Sun and Pakenham Gazette brought to light the winners
Tooradin (58-59), Berwick (59-60), Cranbourne (60-61), Kooweerup won by one run (61-62) and Cranbourne (62-63).
After all his research ‘Sherlock’ Utber has come to the conclusion that from 1958-59 the Association became part of the new conglomerate called the West Gippsland Association for the second coming.
The original West Gippsland Association goes back to the 19th century when the competition was centred around Trafalgar.
So, what happens to the trophy?
Should it go to Kooweerup or the should the last shield plaque be filled with the winner in 1962-63?
“Elementary my dear Nagel, elementary,” Utber concluded with a smile.
