Courageous / Legend Leads with Courage

Legend Leads with Courage

Words Kim Nielsen-Creeley

Launceston Grammar alumnus (1978), David Boon MBE has sustained a life-long career in the world of international cricket. Debuting as a 17-year-old playing First Class Cricket for Tasmania in 1978/79 and rising to become Australia’s top batsman in the early 1990s, David made 21 Test centuries, was voted Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1993 and became an Australian Selector with Cricket Australia.

Among many career highlights was his role in four Ashes series wins; his unbeaten 184 in the Bicentenary Test of 1988; and his Man-of-the-Match winning effort in the 1987 World Cup final.

Primarily in the number 3 position, his resilience was an essential ingredient in Australia’s revival as a cricketing power in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating said of David’s retirement, ‘When the team was up against it, we came to count on you to fight with skill and courage. Cricket fans around the world will miss the great character and talent that you brought to the game’.

Since 1999, David has worked with Cricket Tasmania and from 2011, the international governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on the Elite Panel of ICC Referees. David is an advocate against illegal gambling, through the ICC's involvement with the Anti-Corruption and Security Unit. He says, ‘It’s a battle at times, the way the game is viewed by the public, and people must be assured they are watching the real thing’.

When his career began no one imagined how the game would evolve, but David experienced cherished mentorships and support from a young age. Throughout his early life and career, he acknowledges family first; his parents' involvement and example. ‘They had a desire to help you as a child, to do whatever you enjoy and try to achieve. My parents ran me around everywhere, and as a parent myself I understand how that works, even though my children are adults now’.

The Boons are a sporting family. David’s father Clarrie played football with North Launceston and East Launceston, was a Chairman of the National Football Association for two terms and initiated the still current Best Player award in the NTCA, the Clarrie Boon Medal. David’s mother Lesley was a national hockey player with the Australian team in the 1950s and coached in Tasmania for a long time.

David was a disciplined young man and a cricket star from an early age according to Launceston Grammar Headmaster Hutchings, who was always acknowledging his high cricket scores at assemblies. Mrs Mary Hutchings was concerned, and a mentor for David’s academic welfare, as even then he was away from home a lot. The Launcestonian may have reported ‘Boon back from Sri Lanka in the Australian youth side, 42 not out’, but Mrs Hutchings banished him to the Headmaster’s House three times a week for an hour of tuition, to catch up. David says he was still a boy then, and thought that schoolwork was outside of sport, but ideally in hindsight, the disciplines should run in tandem.

Launceston Grammar cricket coach John Martin was, not so subtly, fielding local football clubs away, encouraging David’s decision to choose cricket. ‘I swam as a child and loved football, might have even preferred footy, although I’d never be tall or quick enough. I played with North Launceston for a couple of years until I was 21’.

David acknowledges support along the way from prestigious cricket players and administrators such as Jack Simmons MBE, Bob Simpson AO, Alan Border AO and Dennis Rogers AO. Jack Simmons, a Lancashire man, was invited to Tasmania to captain the Tasmanian side in 1972-3 and stayed for eight seasons, leading the team into the Sheffield Shield competition. David was just eight or nine years old when they met, and Jack became a father figure to him later when Clarrie Boon passed away. David’s son Jack is Jack Simmons’ godson. Bob Simpson was ‘the first formal coach of Australian cricket … when the team was rebuilding in the mid to late 1980s. He took us forward and had an enormous influence. Alan Border as captain was another influential player, and personally we are great mates’.

Denis Rogers, now current Chairman of the Australian Cricket Board offered him a position in Hobart with the Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA). David said he would talk to his wife Pip about that, ‘but Denis had been working behind my back … if you make sure the family is happy, the man will follow’. He credits Denis as a major influence, with his knowledge of business and administration, and the opportunity for David to work with the state body in the areas of administration, marketing and media initially and then as General Manager of Cricket.

“To lead a life that I have, travelling the world with cricket, the support of family is paramount, and it continues with the ICC,” says David.

When asked about his school days, he says “Launceston Grammar gave me a very good understanding of reality, and I have fond memories from my school days.

“Young people with ambitions for a sports career need to be realistic and be aware that sport can be fickle. My advice is to strive for balance whilst remembering there is still a place to dream. Put your best foot forward, be courageous, and be the best you can be.”