Scooby Doo where are you?
Shane Lee | April 10, 2024
"NSW Cricket and the Baby Blues, Rest In Peace” was the headline in the Australian newspaper December 1993 following a humiliating Sheffield Shield defeat in Perth in only two days. To make matters worse, the article was illustrated with individual tombstones of each player who participated in the match. Ouch!
If a team ever needed motivation, this was it!
NSW had to win the last seven Sheffield Shield games in a row to make the final. Almost an impossible task based on current form.
Before our next match at the SCG, a young fan gave Adam Gilchrist, our then number 5 batsmen a tiny figurine of Scooby Doo for good luck. When asked why Adam had a small dog on top of his locker he replied “Boys he is good luck. Everyone rub Scooby’s head before we take the field today.” That we did, and we won the match convincingly.
We now had a new good luck charm. Scooby Doo became the unofficial 13th man for the remainder of the season. Gilly would make sure we all rubbed Scooby’s little head before taking the field for the remainder of the season. The record shows that the Baby Blues did the unthinkable and we won all seven matches including the Sheffield Shield Final and Mercantile Mutual Cup. What an amazing turnaround for the humiliated Baby Blues.
Thank you Scooby and thank you Mr Journalist for giving us the motivation we needed to win the double!
The celebration following our success was legendary. We started a pub crawl down George Street at midday post an early win over Tasmania at the SCG on day five. All twelve players, Steve Rixon the coach, Patrick Farhart the Physiotherapist and Scooby Doo joined in on the festivities. Each pub we walked into we would order fourteen schooners of beer and one middy for our little dog! Scooby snacks? Yes, please!
Circa 6pm that day and now six hours into the celebration, Gilly yelled out “Does anyone have Scooby?” I have never seen a greater amount of panic set in as we realised we had left Scooby unattended at the last pub. The site of fourteen guy’s running back to the previous watering hole in search of our good luck charm was hysterical. Gilly ran into the bar and started asking punters if they had seen a small dog? “He is approximately 10cms in size and he goes by the name of Scooby!” “Scooby Doo where are you?” WTF! They must have thought we were totally intoxicated and we were all asked to leave the pub shortly after without Scooby!
It is my opinion that Scooby Doo was never lost. I believe he was abducted by the Western Australian Cricket Mafia in an attempt to secure both Australia’s greatest good luck charm and the most talented wicket batsmen of all time in Adam Gilchrist. That is exactly what happened. Adam left the NSW Blues to take up a new role as Western Australia’s wicket keeper shortly after.
Scooby was never seen again and Adam went on to be the most successful wicket keeper batsmen of all time.
Following this disastrous loss, I became more aware of this new world of ‘superstition’. I would watch players like Matthew Hayden preparing to bat with exact order. Left pad first, followed by right pad, left glove, right glove etc. Or Greg Matthews always being the last player to take the field. I now watch the most superstitious player of all time Steve Smith touch himself 15 to 20 times before he faces each ball in a match. Top of right pad, followed by thigh pad, box, pad, helmet, pad, box etc…that must be exhausting!
Whilst I never personally experienced the additional burden of the ‘Superstition gene’ it can apparently get you at any stage of your life. Imagine having to walk down the street and avoid the lines on the footpath or bounce the ball exactly ten times before you serve in tennis. No thank you! I really hope it never happens to me. Touch wood. Fingers crossed!
