21st January 2014
| Mallory Gray
The Welsh cricket
community learnt today, January 21st, that one of its most steadfast
stalwarts had passed away.
Brian Crockett
had undertaken a list of responsibilities within the game so long that it is
unlikely to be surpassed. Brian’s health
has been poor for three or four years but, until recently, continued to work on
behalf of the game as hard as he could.
Brian’s contributions were
made at every level in the recreational game: locally, he had been secretary of
Margam CC for many years; regionally he occupied several different offices on
behalf of the West Glamorgan Regional Junior Development Committee and was an active
committee member of the South Wales Junior League (one of the largest in the
UK); nationally, he worked on behalf of the former Welsh Cricket Association as
Assistant Secretary (running the Welsh Cup among other things) and as
Secretary. Brian naturally became a
member of the organising committee of the Wales Minor County XI. As if all this was not enough, Brian was an
influential force on behalf of the South Wales Cricket Association as Secretary
and Treasurer besides his work on sub-committees concerned with discipline,
marketing and grounds.
In later years, Brian
became the first Treasurer of the South Wales Premier League, before ill health
caused him to stand down. However,
before all this, when Child Welfare became a national issue, single-handed,
Brian set up a system for the dissemination of information and its administration. CRB (now DBS) forms are part and parcel of
life in our cricketing world and drove this along in the face of much apathy
with the single-minded determination that characterised his work.
No job was too great or
too insignificant for Brian: he was always available for advice (and I often
sought it myself) which was freely given.
If Brian had a hat for
every post that he had filled in the cricket world (besides his membership of a
local Sports Council and Community Chest
Panel) he would need to have built an extension on to his house to accommodate
them all!
Our condolences are
offered to Brian’s wife, Mairwen and his family for their loss. They, above all, know how bravely Brian
withstood the various bouts of ill-health that he had endured in recent
years. Cricket has lost a true friend.
RAV