Party pies and sausage rolls. Chocolate cakes and cream-filled biscuits. Don’t forget the fruit. Afternoon teas have returned to some Victorian cricket clubs post-Covid, but not everyone is happy, writes PAUL AMY.
No player could have left the table hungry or thirsty.
It was a superb spread.
There were sandwiches with a variety of fillings.
Party pies and sausage rolls.
Cocktail frankfurts (“little boys’’).
Chocolate cakes and cream-filled biscuits.
Scones smothered with jam and cream.
Tim Tams and Barbecue Shapes, of course.
And fruit: grapes, strawberries and slices of watermelon.
Cold drinks, too.
South Croydon Cricket Club is fifth on the ladder in the Ringwood District Cricket Association’s top division this season.
But, to judge from what it dished up last Saturday, it might just be unbeatable when it comes to afternoon tea in local cricket.
The club takes great pride in its teas, which for the past 15 years have been prepared by life member and foundation women’s player Kim Stewart and some regular helpers.
Stewart arrives at the clubrooms about 1pm every Saturday and gets to work in the kitchen, cutting, heating and plating.
The food is put out at the change of innings, usually about 3.30pm.
“We’ve been known for a long time as a club that puts on a good spread,’’ Stewart, 52, says.
“We try to give a bit of everything. I think the players enjoy coming off the ground and having it there for them. It’s a good part of their day at the cricket.’’
There are few leftovers: supporters who wander down to Cheong Park to watch the firsts or seconds swoop after the players have eaten.
“Once the players have finished they go for it,’’ Stewart says.
“They’ll usually take care of the rest.’’
Afternoon teas run in the Stewart family: Kim took over the task from her mother, who did them for about 10 years.
*****
After a two-year hiatus because of Covid, afternoon teas – only slightly less important to some players as a big innings or a bag of wickets – are slowly returning to Victorian cricket.
Players and umpires had to bring their own food and drinks in 2020-21 and 2021-22 as cricket navigated a course through the pandemic.
Before this season, Cricket Victoria said afternoon teas would be optional in Premier Cricket, and local associations passed the message down to their clubs.
Many have kept the BYO arrangements, citing a lack of volunteers to prepare the fare.
In the Victorian Sub-District competition, only a handful of clubs have resumed the teas.
Brighton is one, with president Bernard Mutimer explaining the Tonners are lucky to have them made by long-time member Gayle Howard.
Mutimer regards the teas as essential to community cricket and says he’s looking forward to when all clubs go back to supplying them.
“I think it’s something that has to come back … it’s a little bit of fabric in the community, getting people together,’’ he says.
“They keep telling me the world is different but there are some things you don’t get rid of.’’
Mutimer says Howard has been doing the teas for at least 25 years and going to the club on Saturdays is a valuable social outlet for her.
She enjoys the company of the players and members, many of whom she has known for years, he says.
“I think it’s as important for her as it to us,’’ he says.
Brighton invites the opposition for a bite to eat.
“We say, ‘Look, there’s plenty of food upstairs and you’re welcome to join us’,’’ Mutimer says. “And guess what? They all go up there.’’
He jokes that supporters are “like seagulls’’ once the players have finished.
Sub-District association secretary Ken Hilton says the board polled clubs before the season and most were happy to continue with BYO arrangements.
“A number of clubs have said to board members, ‘Gee, we struggle for volunteers to do this, the players and the umpires are in the mode where they have been bringing afternoon tea for two years, why should we go back?’,’’ Hilton says.
“The old days of having ladies’ committees to do it are gone.
“I think a lot of clubs have fewer people helping out and they see it as one less thing to do on a Saturday.’’
Sub-District club Balwyn makes mention of afternoon tea on its website, urging players to bring sandwiches or fruit to be shared among players from both sides.
The standard of afternoon teas, it says, “reflects upon the club and is a show of respect to the opposition and umpires”.
Veteran Ormond Subbies all-rounder James Wild admits he misses the teas, particularly Monders stalwart Ian Shields’ homemade scones.
Wild says a mix of sandwiches, savouries and fresh fruit makes for a top afternoon tea.
“And a good cordial,’’ he adds. “It’s always about who makes a good cordial.’’
Wild played Victorian Premier Cricket at Prahran, and well remembers the roast chicken served at Princes Park, Carlton.
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Russell Moore is in his second tenure as president of the South East Cricket Association.
He remembers his first stint, more than 10 years ago, mainly for one issue: afternoon teas.
Players became so disappointed in the teas at some grounds that they complained to the association.
Moore and his executive decided to set a “minimum standard’’ of four plates of sandwiches (two for each team), fruit, cake and biscuits, washed down by cool drinks and tea and coffee.
Moore said at the time that good catering reflected well on clubs and was “an important part of building camaraderie between players’’.
“It’s always good to come off the ground after a couple of hard hours of play and get something nice to eat,’’ he said. “Everyone enjoys it.’’
Moore says now that acting on the brouhaha about the teas was “one of my major platforms … that’s how I stayed in power for a couple of years.”
The association accorded status to afternoon teas – before Covid, umpires presented an award each season to the club that put on the best spread.
But, as with the Sub-District association, most South East association clubs have kept the BYO policy in place this season.
Moore and vice president Simon Poll say costs and a shortage of volunteers have kept teas off tables.
Moore is also the team manager for Hampton United Cricket Club’s First XI and says he’s noticed a lack of helpers around the grounds.
“Since Covid, a lot of the volunteers have dropped off,’’ Moore says.
“Unfortunately the clubs don’t have the people to do it. We put it to them at the start of the season – do you want to provide afternoon tea or not? And the vast majority said, ‘No, we’ll do our own thing for the time being’.
“I think Covid conditions are still in people’s minds. I get a bird’s eye view each week at what the clubs are doing and quite honestly, some are lucky to have a volunteer to score or put out the cones, let alone someone to run the kiosk or run the bar. They’re so scarce.’’
Poll says: “When you haven’t got volunteers, who does it? It makes easier for the clubs if the players bring their own.’’
Poll’s club, West Bentleigh, is providing afternoon tea of sandwiches, party pies, biscuits and fruit.
Captains buy the food and canteen manager Bridget Healy prepares and plates it. The club picks up the cost.
Poll laughs as he explains why West Bentleigh opted to bring back afternoon tea.
“Most of the committee people are players – and they want to eat afternoon tea,’’ he says. “That’s the deadset truth.’’
Heidelberg, in the Diamond Valley association, is another club where afternoon teas are back on.
Mim Ridewood, the mother of First XI player Jack, oversees the spread and has a “rotating menu’’, according to her son.
She serves chicken skewers and wings, homemade slices and sausage rolls, even slow-cooked beef brisket and chicken schnitzel burgers. And on hot days she puts out icy poles.
“At the start of the season we were advised no, don’t do them, but then the word came through we could do them and clubs have kicked off again,’’ Jack Ridewood says.
“Admittedly some of them aren’t great. We look forward to playing at home because we always get a good one.’’
When clubs were unable to do teas, Mim gave players their own lunch packs.
“Mum made Heidelberg Cricket Club individual packs, in a fish-and-chip type of box with one of everything,’’ Ridewood says.
Unsurprisingly, he says they went down well.
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South Croydon’s afternoon tea rated a mention on a Facebook page called That’s Over and Tea.
Created in 2017, it has close to 8000 likes.
Clubs and players send in pictures of their teas, with most coming from South Australia, Victoria and rural Western Australia.
Once posted, they are heavily and often humorously appraised. In South Croydon’s case, it was widely praised.
“Could be convinced to return to the great game if this was put on every week,’’ was one comment.
Jack Flynn, of Melbourne, is one of the page’s administrators.
Flynn plays at Toorak-Prahran, and this season his side appointed a “tea captain’’ to co-ordinate the weekly spread.
“He basically tells everyone what they’ve got to bring,’’ Flynn says.
Disappointingly, he says, the Toorak-Prahran team has not seen an afternoon tea at an away game this season.
Flynn also runs The Perfect Pitch page on Facebook, and a few weeks ago he switched his focus from wickets to teas.
He said they were part of the game and clubs not supplying them should have a “long hard look’’ at themselves and do something about it.
“Bring the spread back,’’ he declared.
Before joining CODE Paul Amy was a sports reporter and editor for Leader Newspapers. He was also a long-time contributor to Inside Football and is the author of Fabulous Fred, the Strife and Times of Fred Cook.
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