OUR TRIBUTE TO A VALLEY CLUBMATE
Moonee Valley Cricket Club's games on the February 21/22 weekend held a special significance for us, as we used the occasion to honor and farewell our clubmate Alex Ross, who was tragically killed in an accident the previous month.

Players across all grades took the initiative and organised black armbands to acknowledge a fallen clubmate, while a group of Alex's closest mates took to the field together in the Sevenths on the Saturday to play the game that he loved.

Alex had played his club cricket at St Mary's Warracknabeal, and signed up for Moonee Valley with four other mates from RMIT University at the start of this season after they had a kick-to-kick at Ormond Park.

He may have only played two games with the Valleys before returning home to Warracknabeal, but that in no way diminishes the loss for the Club and Alex's close mates.

His mate Paddy Shelton had the honor of captaining the Sevenths tribute side, which also included fellow university sign-ons Shane Chalmers, Justin Trowell and Charlie Jackson.

Other close mates to pull on the whites for Moonee Valley for the first time were Liam Shaw, Ben Peters, James McArthur, Angus Fraser, Elliott Christopher and Noah Dunlop.

Above: The team of mates who took to the field in the Sevenths:
Back - L-R: Justin Trowell, Liam Shaw, Paddy Shelton, Shane Chalmers, Ben Peters, James McArthur, Vishal Chopra.
Front - Angus Fraser, Charlie Jackson, Noah Dunlop, Elliott Christopher.

The Valley tribute team was advancing steadily in the chase for the 105 runs needed to win the game, but a rain delay made batting treacherous and we fell two runs short of Coburg.

Back at the Ormond Park clubrooms after the game, Paddy thanked the Club for providing the opportunity for Alex's mates to play a game in honor of the young 22-year-old.

President Charlie Walker said that Alex had been accepted as a Moonee Valley player, and the short time he was at the club did not diminish the loss to his teammates and clubmates. Charlie pointed out that our greatest-ever clubman, Lindsay Jones had a career of just 22 games before he died.

He said Alex had made an excellent 64 in the Fifths in his first game for our Club, and was a marvel in the field. While we have lost someone who was obviously a talented cricketer, the sadness for our Club was more to do with the passing of a young man who was one of us.

The tribute team's members felt Alex's presence as they played the game, and Paddy named him on the team sheet. And poignantly, Alex was also awarded the Most Valuable Player nomination. We all offer our respects to his family and his close mates.

Dan's the Man when the chips are down

Moonee Valley Life Member Dan Terzini held his nerve when the big plays were needed and took out the main prize at our poker night on February 7.

Dan, captain of the Valley Fifths, beat teammate Peter Whebell - a past winner of our annual tournament - when it got down to the final two hands.

They were the last men standing after Moonee Valley Football Club stalwart and one-game cricketer Tony Gray was eliminated.

Our thanks again to "Riverboat Joe" Ansaldo for his excellent work in organising and running the night - a major fundraiser for our Club. And thanks also to Bob Sciacchitano for his work assisting Joe, Simon Thornton and the crew who ran the bar and our other people who helped to make it a successful and profitable night.

Riverboat and Bob even passed on playing in the Sevenths so that they could concentrate on the job of organising and setting up for the night. So they passed on a victory, as the Sevenths got a good win over Coburg on the Ormond East oval.

Above: Danny Terzini (left) and Peter Whebell were the last men standing
as tournament organiser Kav deals the cards.

 Main Club contact details:

* Charlie Walker - President 0409 237 543; 9370 1802
* Adam Patchell - Club Secretary 0407 552 141 
* Peter Golding - Club Treasurer 0419 009 721
* Simon Thornton - Vice President 0417 570 779
* Kevin Gardiner - Junior Co-ordinator 0417 536 896

Email: mooneev@club.cricketvictoria.com.au


For more contacts, see " Office bearers & Officials " under "Club News & Info" at the top of the page

Last updated: February 23, 2015.

For more of our history, including our Premierships, click HERE