A handful of former NSW Blues greats were joined by a host of current NSW and BBL stars in the Hunter last week to advocate for mental health awareness in the region.
The Baggy Blues, the past players association, has this season partnered with the Cricket NSW Foundation, the charitable arm of Cricket NSW, to help deliver two visits to regional NSW promoting mental health awareness and providing access to the game of cricket.
The CNSW Foundation’s purpose is to enrich communities by enabling access to the game of cricket, which in turn will help unlock opportunities to inspire everyone to play and love cricket, which is Cricket NSW’s purpose.
The first of these visits took place last Wednesday and Thursday in Newcastle, with past Blues Phil Marks, Phil Emery, Gavin Robertson, Rick McCosker and Peter Toohey flanked by current players Chris Green, Mickey Edwards, Lachlan Hearne, Ryan Hadley, Nick Bertus and Hunar Verma, as well as CNSW CEO Lee Germon.
This was the Baggy Blues’ 14th trip to a rural community having previously been to areas like Murwillumbah, Griffith, Lithgow and Tamworth, to name a few.
The visit involved a mental health awareness dinner, which was in partnership with Rural Adversity Mental Health Programme (RAMHP), along with school visits to St Mary’s Gateshead, where players past and present spoke to Year 12 Students, and to Hunter Sports High School, involving a session with the gifted athletes program.
Unfortunately, the planned Junior Clinic and Exhibition T20 Cricket match set for the second day of the trip were unable to go ahead due to wet weather, despite the best effort from Wests Cricket Club.
Phil Marks, who played 13 first class matches for the Blues between 1983 and 1990, said despite the issues with the rain, the visit was a well worth the trip north.
“Although we didn’t get the clinic and game in due to the weather, the dinner and school visits were immensely beneficial in promoting our mental health awareness message with RAMHP, a program the Baggy Blues are passionate about continuing to support,” Marks said.
“The dinner was a resounding success, enabling us to showcase RAMHP, hear Robbo’s unique story, award representative caps to the local cricketers and listen to tales of the past from our older Baggy Blues.”
Blues great Phil Emery, who played 121 first class matches between 1987 and 1999 said current world events reinforced the need to look out for each other.
"The Baggy Blues are extremely passionate about visiting the bush, which is the heartland of NSW cricket,” Emery said.
“We love promoting the game and helping support the communities that have continually supported us.
“We have a deep passion for helping break the stigma around Mental Health, which unfortunately is so prevalent in today's world.
“The events of the past few weeks in the cricket community and with the East Coast flooding just highlight to us just how important it is for these trips to continue.
“The chance to re-connect with old mates, get to know and share stories with the current players is invaluable in maintaining the culture of NSW cricket.”
The Baggy Blues next trip will see the legends and the up and comers in Wollongong on Thursday March 30 and Friday April 1.
The two Baggy Blues trips to regional NSW have been made possible thanks to funds raised by the Australian Club during a charity match held at the SCG in February. The Cricket NSW Foundation would like to thank the Australian Club for their contributions which will continue to help us provide access to the game of cricket across NSW.