Bill Lawry’s other life: Breeding, racing pigeons, cleaning a loft

Nobody who has listened to you on air will agree with that.
That’s between 11 and 6. That’s when I get worked up. My teammates thought I was nuts, but when you are the captain you can afford to be nuts. Even if my batting might not have shown it, I was always excited. I always appealed the loudest on the field. A bloke like Ian Chappell would after the game sit down with a drink. Doug Walters and four or five around him. You come back the next day and the dressing-room would be wrecked. Oh there’s Bill’s stuff. Let’s throw it all everywhere. For me, I just loved the competition. Didn’t necessarily like the next part after that.

Didn’t you try to convert any of them into pigeon fanciers?
Never tried. I wouldn’t want all those drunken fellows around (laughs). I would rather go with somebody like Ian Redpath or Keith Stackpole to the movies or the theatre or to the foyer. Even here with Channel 9, after the game Tony Grieg and I would go for a meal at half-past-seven and come back at half-past-nine and the others would be going out at half-past-nine.

So where did the love for pigeons originate from?
Pigeon racing has been in my family. My father was a pigeon fancier. My brother, who was 14 years older, was a pigeon fancier. So from the day I was born there has always been pigeon love. Trying to explain pigeon racing to non-pigeon racers, normally I’d say ‘go away’ because it is so hard. You have to be a bit stupid. I come from a poor working-class family. We had pigeons, chickens, dogs, ferrets.

How does pigeon racing work?
It’s very complicated for people who don’t understand. I live here, and I breed my pigeons here. You live there, and you breed your pigeons there. And there is 20 miles between us. And we race pigeons from up here, which is 400 miles away. We calculate 400 miles to my place, and 358 miles to your place. And the pigeon has an electronic timer in shape of a ring. When they are first born you put on a life ring, which is registered in my name. Then you put an electronic ring on the other leg, which is a pigeon clock. The birds are let go, they fly down here. So I’m flying 400 miles or whatever. I clock it at 4 o’clock in the afternoon. And he flies at 3.38pm. then the time and distance are calculated to arrive at a velocity.

Can you call a pigeon race? Do you go ‘what a ripper’ when one of yours wins?
You can’t call a pigeon race. The thing about a pigeon race is it’s a patience game. They take them away to race point. I am sitting here. I have to wait. I wait and wait and wait. If it’s a strong headwind, say they are racing that way and the wind is blowing this way, they will do 40-mile an hour. If the wind is blowing that way, they might do 65-mile an hour. I am waiting at home with my pigeon clock, my time and my friends and you wait and you wait. There might be a storm here that I don’t know about at 200 miles and they go here and you don’t know. Until they come you don’t know.

What about the final lap?
Yeah you jump up like going, “He’s out”. Here’s one and you go “What a ripper” and you think you have a winner and you go down to the club. This other fellow is an hour in front of you. So, all of a sudden you’re down again.

You scored Test hundreds and won Test matches as captain. Can you describe the thrill of winning a pigeon race?
I suppose the thing with a pigeon race is you breed the parents, then you breed the bird and then you train it every day of its life. You feed it. I am cleaning the loft every day. Every day of my life I am cleaning out a pigeon loft. Then you send them away. My pigeons are in a race with 4000 or 5000 other pigeons and I send 15. So the odds aren’t great. When you get a good one, that’s when you get a thrill. It’s a friendship that you make.

Are your kids interested?
My kids aren’t interested. My daughter said my sons will never have pigeons because they are not going to be tied up like dad was. Which is fair. They all have cars and they go. I have a holiday home up at the coast in New South Wales and they all go up there for Christmas holidays. They have their surf-boards and body suits and doing all that. And I’m home with my pigeons.

Doesn’t it hurt?
It doesn’t hurt. I must say this. Unless you are 100 per cent keen, don’t do it. Really it’s time-consuming. I have a wife that puts up. That’s all she does. She knows that I’m at the happiest, I have a nice two-and-a-half acres in a nice part of Melbourne. It’s very green we have a lot of trees. My pigeon loft. I am the happiest in my backyard.

Did your wife know what she was getting into?
I said to my wife because it is unusual. I had told her, “Look I am playing cricket. This will last about 10 years and then cricket will be over. If you can put up with that. I have to be honest with you. I am a pigeon fancier and I will have them for the rest of my life, so you have to be prepared for that.” Because that was the only way I would be happy, and she was happy to put up with the pigeons. But, unfortunately, my cricket career went for 10 years there to 37 years here. (laughs)

Would you have managed to keep up your hobby if you were a modern-day cricketer?
In fact I have often thought I would love to be a professional cricketer now, with the money they are earning, but then I wouldn’t have my pigeons because there is no time. I think I’d probably play, though. (Laughs). And then retire and race pigeons.