Toombul District Cricket Club

Toombul District Cricket Club

Nickname(s):	The 'Buls, The Faithful
League:	Brisbane Grade Cricket QCA
Coach:	Sir Ian Renshaw
Colours:	Claret and Blue
Founded:	1882
Home ground:	Oxenham Park (The Yard) - comprising Ken Mackay Oval & La Frantz Oval
Capacity:	28,500

Toombul District Cricket Club is an Australian cricket club based in Nundah, Queensland, in the city of Brisbane.

Overview

The Toombul District Cricket Club (Toombul DCC or simply TDCC) is a Queensland Cricket Association cricket club which competes in the pinnacle cricket league in Queensland, the Brisbane Grade Cricket competition.

The Brisbane Grade Cricket competition has multiple grade levels, with Toombul fielding teams across 6 grades, as well as an under 18's side. Toombul also has a comprehensive junior club, Toombul DCC - Juniors^[1] which fields age-group sides from under 6's to under 16's, and a Milo in2Cricket programme.^[2]

Toombul is second only to Souths (20) as the most successful cricket club in Queensland, having secured 19 First Grade premierships in its history, the most recent coming in the 2012/13 season.^[3]

History

Toombul can trace its history back to 1882,^[4] and has had a fantastic and colourful history since its inception. The club's representatives over the years form a who's who of famous cricketing names (including three of Bradman's 1948 Invincibles). Notable Toombul players include: Ron Oxenham, Ken Mackay, Jeff Thomson, Colin McCool, Don Tallon, Wally Grout, Harry Frei, Ryan Harris, Peter Clifford,^[5] and Bill Brown (cricketer).

Toombul's current 1st Grade squad includes: Chris Lynn, Charlie Hemphrey,^[6] Matthew Renshaw,^[7] and Ronan McDonald.^[8]

Ground

The Toombul playing ground is named Oxenham Park,^[9] after Toombul club legend Ron Oxenham. The facility incorporates two fields, the main field Ken Mackay Oval,^[10] and the second field La Frantz Oval,^[11] named after two more club legends, Ken Mackay and Errold La Frantz,^[12] respectively.

For much of the late 20th century, Nundah was a low socio-economic area, with public housing and vagrants abundant. Due to the difficulty Toombul Cricket Club faced in maintaining the facilities in the face of vandalism, and the homeless setting up camp at the groundsman's shed, Toombul became affectionately known as The Junkyard. Around the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, gentrification began to take hold in Nundah, as the wealth from the suburbs directly to its south began to flow northwards. This resulted in a much improved suburb, and Toombul was able to improve the club facilities significantly. While the moniker "Junkyard" is no longer applicable, the players and supporters have retained part of the old label, referring to Toombul simply as The Yard.

The record attendance for a match at Oxenham Park was on 4 November in the 1931/32 season, when 26,438 people attended to watch Toombul's Second Grade side attempt to bat out a draw and retain 7th spot on the ladder, which they did, much to the delight of the masses of spectators. Unfortunately the fantastic result caused ecstatic jubilation, and eventually utter chaos in the large crowd, which began looting the local shops, and in amongst the mayhem the grandstand, pavilion, and an orphanage near the ground were set alight and burnt down. There was also an unconfirmed report of a fist-fight between several members of the Country Women's Association and the Sisters of Mercy outside the nearby Royal English Hotel.^[13]

The only known photograph of the record attendance at Oxenham Park in 1931/32

Song

The club song was written by Liam Morris, and refers to the glorious history of the club, which was extremely successful over a long period of time,^[3] up to the early 1990s. However, it also refers to a lengthy period when Toombul was one of the worst performing clubs in the Brisbane Grade Cricket competition. During this period, all grade sides at Toombul were regularly being beaten convincingly, and TDCC was well and truly the underdog in any match they were playing. More recent times have proven extremely prosperous in terms of results, however both Toombul Cricket Club, and the song, still retain the underdog mentality and theme.

Toombul Club Song

The history of Brisbane cricket

Is dressed in red and blue

A thousand tales, a thousand games

And plenty more are due

All around Nundah Town

You'll hear us sing this song

The Toombul boys have won the day

We played it tough and strong

So now it's time for winner's beer

We're drinking piss tonight

Today belongs to underdogs

And Toombul won the fight

Today we pipped the winning post

The final bell was rung

A roar was heard around the 'Town -

"The Toombul boys have won!"

As well as the club song, Toombul players, supporters, and friends also embrace the song Shimmer^[14] by Fuel (band) as their anthem. The Faithful will always loudly and provocatively encourage the live band/acoustic to play Shimmer, wherever they are.

References