I first met Viv Richards in the West Indies change room in 1988 just after they had defeated England on the fourth day of the final Test series at Lords. I still hold it as one of my greatest sporting moments of all time.
I was travelling through the UK as Manager of an Australian Indigenous Cricket team who were half-way through a seven week UK tour. We watched in awe as the Windies, playing their best, demolished the Poms in a stunning display of strength and power.
How we got into the West Indies dressing room in the first place is a story in itself but to meet these guys in person was a huge thrill for me, let alone 17 young timid Aboriginal cricketers who were on cloud nine to be with their heroes and treated with the respect that they deserved.
Viv Richards was one of the first to say hello to us and he still remembers that day when we meet in Australia from time to time.
I knocked into Sir Viv eight years later when I coached the Australian Sevens team to their first Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1996 – when team sports such as rugby, netball and cricket were first introduced to the Games. Viv was having a laugh with a good mate of his, Sachin Tendulkar, in the Games dining room and I didn’t hesitate in introducing myself to two of the biggest names in cricket.
Most recently, I was honoured to be able to interview one of my greatest sporting hero’s for NITV’s Awaken, which was a thrill for many of my Indigenous work colleagues but for most of the staff at SBS who shadowed his movements around the Channel.
We talked about his introduction to cricket after representing Antigua as a junior footballer, how he was influenced by his father and his memories of his first Test match:
“I played my very first test match in Bangalore and as I walked out I was so nervous…there wasn’t any feeling in my legs…you had like 60,000 thousand people. I’m saying to myself ‘this is what test match cricket is all about’ and there were some doubts where I started to believe – ‘I don’t know whether I belong here or not.”
He relived his first experiences of cricket in the UK and the challenges he faced. On racism, he said:
“You get a lot of that… and I was one of those guys you know who felt, as long as you bleed, we’re all the same. I try and keep it as simple as possible… I just felt at the time education was needed.”
He also discusses the friendships that he made with influential players at the time, namely Ian Botham:
“I can remember as a young man when I first went to England, we both got assigned to play for Somerset…I walked in and didn’t know anyone in the dressing room, and Ian came up, made himself known, and wow, we sort of hit it off there and then.”
There are very few secrets in Sir Viv’s life these days that the world doesn’t know about, but family still plays a central role.
I didn’t miss the opportunity to ask what he thoughts were on the lack of Indigenous participation at the top echelons of Australian cricket and how we can improve and grow the numbers Indigenous cricketers who have all the skills but lack the opportunity.
He shared his own sporting heroes and how the importance of seeing people of colour rising to the highest sporting accolades was an importance influence on his own career, referencing Martin Luther King and Muhammad Ali:
“All these guys were of an inspirational force… people of our colour. In that part of the world, I guess, (they) had a hard time in trying to achieve and get to where they wanted to get to… You see people of your colour rising to such heights, that to me was an inspirational factor on some of the stuff I wanted to achieve.”
The interview was a unique opportunity for me to get close to Sir Viv Richards and I enjoyed every minute – he truly lives up to the legendary status that precedes him.
Mark Ella speaks to Sir Vivian Richards tonight on Awaken, 9.30pm on NITV
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