John McMahon - a wonderful journey
Marist Brothers Cricket Club Lismore | December 31, 2023
The McMahon family is well known in cricketing circles especially in Northern NSW.
As brothers Terry, Brian and Michael McMahon grew up in Lismore to become talented cricketers and made their way to Sydney where they all played 1st Grade Cricket.
It was their dad, John who fostered the young McMahon’s passion for the game and he was an exceptional cricketer with a wonderful history in NSW Cricket.
John was born in Sydney in 1932 and played his first game of cricket in 1943 at the age of 9 and his last game in 2011 at the age of 79, just one month shy of his 80th birthday.
Sport is in McMahon’s blood. John and his boys played cricket and two of his daughters, Kathryn and Patricia, represented Queensland in indoor cricket. John’s grandson Sam is the current first grade wicket keeper at Western Suburbs in Sydney and his father Jack McMahon played 58 games as a fullback for Glebe in the NSWRL from 1923 to 1929 and scored 15 tries.
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John McMahon with Australian Test opener Arthur Morris
John went to school at St Patrick’s College Strathfield and as an 11-year-old playing in the Schools under 14 team he took 73 wickets at an average of 4. There were only 7 games in the season and that was in 1944 and St Patricks won their first ever cricket premiership.
John’s prodigious wicket-taking ability as a left arm wrist spinner soon captured the attention of the administrators at Balmain Cricket Club.
He played Poidevin Gray shield (Under 21) for several seasons and took an incredible 120 wickets. When you consider there are normally only 7 or 8 games in a Poidevin Gray season, 120 wickets is a remarkable achievement. Interestingly, former Australian Test Spinner Peter Philpott, a wrist spinner, also took 120 wickets.
John represented Sydney Cricket Clubs combined Poidevin Gray team when they played the Northern NSW Emu Colts in the early 1950s.
In over eight seasons including one full season of First Grade in 1954/55, John took 210 wickets for Balmain.
He fondly remembers bowling the then Australian Test opener Jim Burke in his first over in first grade. John’s second over wasn’t as productive as the legendary Keith Miller hit him for two sixes.
Work commitments saw John transferred to Lismore in the mid 1950’s, where he met his wife to this day, Joan Patricia Harmon. John started playing for the Marist Brothers Cricket Club in 1955.
John made an immediate impact in local cricket and was soon selected to play for the Far North Coast representative team. He was selected to represent NSW Country against Metropolitan in Sydney in the 1955/56 season and took 2 wickets in the game.
Back: Greg Youngberry, Reg Baxter, Harold Crozier, Kevin Kirkland, Jack McLean, John Pratt, Stan Goulding,
Front: Geoff Riley, Dave Weir, Len Henley, Frank Ryan, John McMahon, Barry Pratt.
Back in the day, the Far North Coast teams played in the Queensland Country Week carnivals and John snared an impressive 45 wickets in a week. In 1959 John was transferred to Brisbane in his employment where he joined the South Brisbane club in the Brisbane Grade Cricket competition.
In his first season with South Brisbane, he took a competition high of 48 first grade wickets and was selected in the Queensland Sheffield Shield team for the southern tour. John played 2 first class games for Queensland and in his own words “I was unable to change from being an attacking spinner to being a stock bowler in the Shield games as my stock ball was not accurate enough for 1st class cricket at the time. “
Returning to cricket in Lismore in 1960, John re-joined the Marist Brothers club and in the 1960/61 season he captured a record 87 wickets in the season. He went on to captain Northern NSW against South Africa in 1963 and also played against England in 1965, where he enjoyed a successful match, claiming three of the four top English batsmen cheaply.
John McMahon played 32 seasons of first grade cricket in Lismore. 18 seasons with Marist Brothers and 14 with Western Districts. In what is an incredible statistic, John took five wickets or more in 75 innings for Marist Brothers and when you add representative cricket and his time at Western Districts, his total number of five wicket hauls exceeds 120.
He played in five Lismore District Cricket Association premiership winning teams and to this day remains very proud of his 81 batting at number 3 in the 1957/58 premiership winning team.
Continuing with his love of the game John also represented Queensland Veterans in Indoor cricket.
What a journey it has been for John McMahon. He’s received an OAM for services to cricket and a Lifetime Coaching award from Cricket NSW. He’s a Life Member of Lismore District Cricket Association, Far North Coast Cricket Council, North Coast Cricket Zone, NSW Country Cricket and the NSW Cricket Association.
Now that’s a contribution worth celebrating, well bowled John McMahon.
