Vale Bill Moffatt: a local cricketing legend

This week, the Illawarra lost one of its greatest ever cricketers, and I lost a great mate.

As reported in April, Bill (Moffo) Moffatt achieved legendary status, playing at the highest standard into his 70s.

Having won multiple premierships with three clubs, topping batting averages regularly, and representing the Illawarra, including as captain for many years, Bill was inducted into the Cricket Illawarra Hall of Fame this year, joining a small, elite group given that honour.

Never one to seek accolades – Bill preferred to let his exploits on the field tell his cricketing story – he needed gentle persuasion to attend the gala presentation at the Fraternity Club in Fairy Meadow on April 16. Due to failing health, Bill felt uncomfortable being seen in public not as the swashbuckling all-rounder who had the ability to win a game almost single-handedly, but as a frail, vulnerable man, confined to a wheelchair.

With his daughter, Kristy, and grandchildren making the trip from Queensland to share in the celebration, Bill padded up for one more appearance in the centre. That awards night was his final outing before being admitted to hospital.

As I drove him home after the event, he was exhausted but so pleased he’d made the effort to accept one final, well-deserved - and long overdue - accolade. He reminisced about playing together with his son, John, who himself was a very talented cricketer.

He was overjoyed to reunite with some of his former teammate, and exchange a few "pleasantries” with others who’d been tough combatants when Moffo helped take the game in the Illawarra to a new level. He was thrilled when Lord Mayor Tania Brown came by to pass on her congratulations.

Cricketing friendships

At the event, he reminisced about being knocked off his feet by a Lenny Pascoe bouncer when playing for Petersham before moving to take on a paid captain-coach role at Dapto. Moffo’s greatest memory as a representative player was the day he dismissed West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards at Manuka Oval in Canberra. But as he told the crowd at the Frat upon receiving Cricket Illawarra’s highest honour, it was those friendships he made on and off the pitch that motivated him to play on.

Playing cricket for 60 years, mostly at a high level, does take its toll, and in the end Moffo was left with no choice but to hang up his pads when his ageing legs made running between the wickets difficult. He told me he might have had two more seasons in him just “standing and delivering” from the crease, but in the end he knew when it was time to call stumps. As often happens, Bill’s mind was willing but his body wasn’t, otherwise I have no doubt he’d still be pulling on the creams this summer and looking for a hit and an opportunity to help steer his team to victory.

Moffo’s statistics speak for themself. He was a star in Sydney with bat and ball before making a lifestyle decision to help his family purchase their first home.

At Dapto, firstly, and then at Keira, he captained and coached his teams to success in his first year with the clubs, having instilled a new, more serious and aggressive approach to the game. (That’s not to say Moffo and his teams didn’t have fun). At the end of his Illawarra career, Moffo won the first grade batting average four times, and in 16 dominant seasons, he’d amassed more than 6000 runs and taken 350 wickets.

Moffo won the Ron Ring Trophy for Illawarra Cricketer of the Year four times. He was named in Dapto Cricket Club’s team of the century, and Keira’s elite team of the past 50 years.

How Moffo turned the tide

Another Dapto cricketing legend, Colin Pitt, who was elevated to be club captain in the early '70s aged just 21, recalls how the club had struggled to win its first premiership until Moffo arrived on the scene.

The decision was taken to take a more professional approach, and in 1975, Dapto advertised for a captain-coach. “I was consulted and fully endorsed the idea; I just wanted to win,” Colin said.

Bill Moffatt, 31, applied and was appointed. Dapto CC found him a job at Dapto Bowling Club as Bill was a qualified greenkeeper.

Colin recalls how Moffo’s arrival quickly shook things up. “Bill came into a Dapto club that wasn’t used to training hard, often because of work commitments, nor winning often. At training, players had a bat and went straight home. Bill transformed this approach to training twice a week with an emphasis on everything to do with the game,” Colin said.

“Bill lived for cricket and demonstrated this all his life. He had an almost insatiable appetite for cricket and loved to win.”

'The best player'

From the moment Moffo arrived, he changed the way Dapto played the game. “He was a very thoughtful and tactical captain,” Colin said. “He was the best player I have ever played with – full stop.”

In that historic premiership-winning first season at Dapto, Moffo inherited what Colin described as “an eclectic mix which contained some of the best players of the 1960s such as Bob Fox, Frank Fox and Tony Evans who had been outstanding cricketers but were perhaps past their prime.

Dapto recruited two new fast bowlers – school teacher Michael Maude and navy man Keith McWaters. Moffo also added two bright teenage prospects in batsman Merrick Mildenhall and off-spinner Peter French.

“Bill inspired younger players to reach their potential,” Colin said “He had a very good connection with the younger players in the club but struggled a little, not necessarily his fault, with some of the older members in the club, whose expectations were somewhat different, not so much on the cricket field, but off it.

“Bill wasn’t egotistical, nor selfish, or arrogant, but he was somewhat complex and quirky as well. I thought Bill had a certain innocence, almost shyness about him, and in an era when being a non-drinker was unusual, it was difficult for the older players whose expectation of engagement was fundamentally different to Bill’s.

A winning partnership

In that first Dapto premiership, Moffo starred with bat and ball against Wollongong, taking four wickets, and in the run chase, he and Colin Pitt batted the team to a comfortable victory. Bill scored an unbeaten 102 while Colin made a fabulous 65.

“Bill was great for Dapto Cricket Club. He inspired many, not least me,” Colin said. “I’m so glad I met Bill at the stage I did, because I needed someone to make me work and think harder about the game.”

Colin recalls the friendship he developed with Moffo and Michael Maude. “We, with our wives would often gather at each other’s homes to play cards or just talk. He loved this and he was in his element. In addition, he and I spent a lot of time in the greenkeeper’s shed at Dapto Bowling Club discussing the team. Bill loved this one-on-one connection, and he would do this with many players.”

Ending a rumour

Colin wanted to use the time of Bill’s passing to put to bed a rumour that’s circulated in the local cricket scene for decades.

“Several people thought I left Dapto to go to Shellharbour CC because of Bill, and the relationship was fractured. That could not be further from the truth,” Colin said. “I left because it was closer to my work, and they were paying me quite a lot for me to captain-coach. With a young family at that stage, it was important.

“When I came back to Dapto to coach, Bill was at Keira and we were competitors. We both had the same desire to win. And to win, you had to beat Bill Moffatt. He was that good, even in his 40s.”

The Keira years

At Keira, life member Ron Johnston described Bill’s appointment as captain-coach in 1983-84 as a masterstroke. “He was able to get the best out of the first grade team. He was a tough leader who led from the front, and he had the motivational skills that lifted the spirit of the whole club,” Ron said. “That first season was to prove one of Keira’s finest and the Lions were Illawarra club champions.

“It was Moffo’s influence that resulted in Keira winning the first grade premiership in 1987-88 after a 25-year drought.”

At Berry-Shoalhaven Heads

From the age of 50, Moffo played out most of his final cricketing years – dominating again with bat and ball – at Berry-Shoalhaven Heads, where he lived.

In his first year there, he was man of the match in the club’s first premiership win in 42 years. In a remarkable achievement, Moffo, when well into his 60s, played in 10 consecutive grand finals, winning five.

Author's note

After Dapto won that first premiership in 1975-76, and with a number of older players retiring, Moffo looked to youth for the club’s future. I was one of three local teenagers he had faith in to step up into the top grade. Playing cricket in a side captained by Moffo was a sporting joy, but even more so was the opportunity to build a close friendship.

From those early days, right up to these difficult past few months, Moffo was a special part of my life. He was like a second dad who loved nothing more than a laugh and sharing a hot chocolate together from the Gerringong Bakery or a Chinese meal at Shoalhaven Heads.

Sledging me until the end, a few weeks ago, while already knowing the answer, he questioned if we ever batted in the middle together at Dapto. Of course we did, many times; but as Moffo cheekily reminded me, I rarely hung around long enough to allow us to build a partnership worth remembering.

In recent months, it was hard to watch a good mate struggling. On the field, Moffo prided himself on never giving up his wicket without a fight, and that’s exactly how Bill bowed out – hanging on till the end, hoping his innings might continue just a little bit longer.

Moffo’s family wants to thank everyone who supported their GoFundMe appeal to raise enough money to help see him medically transferred, after four months in Sydney hospitals, to be close to family on the Sunshine Coast.

Bill’s daughter, Kristy, said “we are absolutely heartbroken to say that dad passed away on Monday 28 September. We had a week with him, loving him, caring for him, laughing, crying and making him feel loved, cherished and spending time talking about his memories. It was a gift I will be eternally grateful for and would like to thank each one of our donors who helped make this happen.”

Moffo passed peacefully surrounded by the love of Kristy, son-in-law Mark, his grandchildren Amelia, Jaxson, Georgia, and Amelia’s husband Lleyton.

After family, cricket was always Moffo’s greatest passion and those who played with him – and there were many many hundreds – would probably agree (as I do) with the words of Bill’s former Dapto vice captain, Colin Pitt.

“If I had my time again, and played cricket, my number one choice would be to play cricket in the same team as Bill Moffatt.”

It would always mean you were playing to win!

Bill Moffatt was 81.