NONCE UPON A TIME

Great get from Biggy Sizzlechest to unearth this article from 1986 by Spanky Roebuck about Deeve Randall:

At moments like these... cricket needs characters like Randall

Sipping a few beers in the umpires' room an hour or two after England's game against Tasmania, local umpire Steve Randall said he was ready for a break.

He had been on the road for ten days, in Adelaide and Hobart, back a few horses, that sort of thing.

Or the other sort of thing.

With hindsight, you certainly look at Randall's treatment of his students in a different light.

Comments

[Big Ramifications]

Almost completely missed Roebuck's print media career. Except right at the end when he started to get a tad testy when talk turned to terrorism.

I never got into ANALYSIS in the sport section. Most of it is malarkey. Stats are all that matter, and watching the game.

So I'm reading this 25 year old piece.... and it's exactly the same as his most recent articles. Swap "Steve Randell" with "Usman Khawaja", "minties" with, I dunno, "the Koran", and "deputy headmaster at a school in Zeeham" with "intemperate Sikh warrior" and what have you got?

His writing didn't evolved a bit. It's the same waffle.

[Hangover Black]

There's a few interesting lines in that article:

"Randall's language can be fruity" - not the only thing that was a bit fruity

"He used to hand out jelly babies on the field" - wouldn't have been the first time he'd used that tactic.

[Steve Randall]

Hey kid! Would you like a Hershey bar?

http://www.moviesoundclips.net/download.php?id=2041&ft=wav

[Tony]

Thought you were going to Gene Hackman.