BUSSELTON has produced some great sportspeople, but probably none better than Derek Chadwick.
Elizabeth Stone found that the former champion allrounder is still as competitive as ever.
HIS hair may be grey, but he still moves with plenty of dash on the court at Scarborough Tennis Club.
It’s early Tuesday morning and Derek Chadwick is on a tight schedule. There’s only enough time for three or four rounds of social tennis, a quick morning tea break – then it’s off to golf.
This mad-keen former football and cricket star is still keeping his eye on the ball – but this time the ball is a little smaller, and the game is a little harder to master.
“Golf is obviously challenging – a fairly difficult game to play with a small ball,” he said.
“But I do enjoy the outings and the company. The longer you can you keep yourself active and doing things, hopefully the longer you’ll last.”
This emphasis on being fit and active can be traced back to Chadwick’s early years growing up in Busselton.
The Chadwick household was a sporting household and everyone was off playing sport somewhere.
His mother was a state hockey player, a state bowler and won about 20 Busselton golf ladies championships.
His father was a very good footballer and cricketer and was a State champion in the firemen ladder events at shows.
Derek gained valuable experience playing footy with the Busselton Magpies. By the age of 16 he was playing in the men’s teams and by year 12 he was playing senior sport.
“I coped with senior sport because I was competitive and loved to play,” he said.
Derek remembers Mike Adams, who played a record number of games with the Magpies, and Doug Scott, as two people who were excellent in looking after junior players.
“Some pretty good players have come from Busselton, but the greatest of all was probably East Perth games record holder, Derek Chadwick,” football historian Les Everett said.
Derek remembers his first afternoon of training at East Perth. He arrived early and saw Polly Farmer, “the best footballer that has ever been”, running laps on his own.
“He was just doing extra work – and if you look at 99 per cent of the true champions, they are champions probably because they have worked harder than those who haven’t quite made that level,” Derek said.
Inspiration from such great players as Farmer, and being coached by Jack Sheedy, who Chadwick remembers as “an outstanding sportsman and person”, provided him with the perfect start to league football.
He went on to play 269 games with East Perth; a record that still stands. He played in six grand finals without success.
Ironically, his retirement during the 1972 season, due to a recurrent kidney injury. was the year East Perth finally won the WAFL grand final.
Highlights of his football career include being a member of the WA team that won the 1961 Australian carnival, winning East Perth’s fairest and best in 1963 and 1964, Simpson Medallist in WA’s 1964 state team and being inducted into the WAFL hall of fame in 2004.
Derek said “that he was fortunate to be able to play both football and cricket” and remembers playing in a cricket final around Easter time.
He had made about 60 runs, then nicked a ball to the wicket-keeper and “walked”. It was around 12.30pm – there was just enough time to get changed for East Perth’s opening game at 2.30pm.
However, when the umpire called him back and declared him “not out”, the situation became a little more desperate.
“I did manage to get to Perth Oval on time – but it was a close call,” he said.
Chadwick was picked to play in the WA Sheffield Shield cricket team.
“Playing Sheffield Shield was a game of concentration and you had to discipline yourself to play the shots that were there and leave the shots that were not,” he said.
Derek scored centuries in his first and third Shield innings’ and said “these were highlights of my cricket career and were largely built on the confidence gained from my football career”.
A major drama beset his cricket career when he was picked in the Australian Second X1 to tour New Zealand.
He was unable to get leave from his teaching position and therefore resigned.
“Every cricketer aspires to wear the “baggy green cap” – and I got pretty close - in the end I was unsuccessful, but I was offered my teaching position back,” he said.
