By ADEM SARICAOGLU
AS WE are now well-entrenched in the second decade of the 21st century, many cricket clubs have invested in electronic scoreboards.
Premier Cricket club Footscray Edgewater, however, is not one of them.
The only Premier club in Melbourne’s West still uses a traditional manual scoreboard at Mervyn Hughes Oval, and the man behind the magic was recently rewarded for his tireless work.
John Lord has served Footscray Edgewater for more than 20 years, manning the scoreboard and providing a presence more valued around the club than any other.
Lord was one of 20 recipients in Cricket Victoria’s 2012 Kookaburra Volunteer Recognition Breakfast during day three of the Boxing Day Test last month.
Cricket Victoria CEO Tony Dodemaide, a former Footscray Edgewater cricketer, spoke at the event and singled out Lord for his services to the Bulldogs.
“John is an example of what a club is built on,” Dodemaide said at the event.
“We should never take that for granted.”
Lord told Star he had a “wonderful morning” at the MCG event.
“I’m well-recognised at the cricket club and I’m a life member, so it is nice to be recognised,” Lord said.
“I don’t do it for that purpose but it is nice to be recognised, I suppose.”
Lord’s presence in the local sporting community extends beyond cricket, too.
He also works the scoreboard for the Parkside Football Club and each September presents the Herb Pascarl Medal to the best player of the WRFL Division One grand final, last year won by Altona’s Reece Miles.
During the 2011 decider between Spotswood and Albion, Lord suffered a fall that eventually hospitalised him for several weeks, but still managed to present the medal that day.
However the recovery kept Lord away from his beloved Bulldogs for the first time since he’s been part of the club.
“It was frustrating but I couldn’t do much about it,” Lord said.
“They were the first games I’ve ever missed out at the Merv Hughes Oval, but I started off before then at the Western Oval, as it then was.
“I think I’ve been doing the scoreboard for the best part of 15 years.”
Lord returned in December, but club vice-president Mark Sheehan says the lack of his presence during the start of that summer left a significant void.
Sheehan also described Lord as a vital link between the club’s past and present.
“He’s a living treasure, really, because he’s that bridge between the past and where we are at the moment as a young team,” Sheehan said.
