From the Archives, 1982: Australian bowler hospitalised after Test match riot

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From the Archives, 1982: Australian bowler hospitalised after Test match riot

By Peter McFarline

First published in The Age on November 15, 1982

Cricket Authorities Must Act Now

Perth – The immediate reaction to Saturday’s riot at the WACA ground was, predictably, powerful and emotional.

Terry Alderman is stretchered off the WACA. He ended up spending a year out of the game with a shoulder injury.

Terry Alderman is stretchered off the WACA. He ended up spending a year out of the game with a shoulder injury. Credit: The Age Archives

It must stay that way until those who control cricket and cricket grounds in this country have made sure there can be no repetition.

Terry Alderman had hardly reached Royal Perth Hospital than officials, police and players were calling for a ban on the sale of alcohol at grounds and the building of barbed wire fences around playing areas. There were pleas for, at very least, a multiplication of police strength.

Yesterday, those calls were heeded in part. Bars in the outer areas were closed during the afternoon and the force of 20 police who were at the ground to control 13,500 people on Saturday was trebled.

These were only temporary measures. Above all its other duties, cricket – and sport – must have as its prime objective the safety of competitors and the spectators who pay to watch them.

In recent years there have been serious crowd disturbances in Melbourne and Sydney as well as Perth. Two seasons ago England captain Mike Brearley warned that a player could be killed after viewing some of the despicable behavior of the inhabitants of the infamous SCG hill.

He was duly castigated for overstating the situation. Now Alderman has been injured badly enough to put his immediate cricket future in doubt.

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In company with the times, a minority of spectators are entering the cricket arenas bent only on trouble and physical confrontation.

In the general melee on the field a policeman lies injured while a possible assailant is marched off.

In the general melee on the field a policeman lies injured while a possible assailant is marched off.Credit: The Age Archives

What would have been the reaction if, as England manager Doug Insole pointed out, Alderman’s assailant had been carrying a knife or handgun.

Violent death on a cricket field would have been the nadir of the game’s evolution.

It is incumbent on the authorities now to treat the situation as if there had been a death in order to prevent one.

There would be no harm in sending the senior sergeant who handles the Melbourne Cricket Ground’s security so efficiently on an advisory tour of the major Australian grounds.

More importantly, those who want to drink at sporting venues must be confined in small areas, easily secured. There is no doubt that alcohol is a major factor in crowd unrest.

In Brisbane where a greyhound track circles the cricket arena the incidence of crowd invasion is negligible.

The last recourse is the one that has been used at many English soccer grounds where the spectators view the match through barbed wire.

The ugliest scenes in Australian cricket came as England captain Bob Willis edged a ball from Alderman to the third man boundary to bring up the 400 in England’s first innings. About 30 people, some waving a Union Jack and others with pro-England placards, climbed the fence and walked on to the playing arena towards Alderman and several other Australian fieldsmen, including Dennis Lillee and Allan Border.

Terry Alderman in 1984 describes his cricket career as upside down since the incident.

Terry Alderman in 1984 describes his cricket career as upside down since the incident.

Willis had sensed troubled 20 minutes before the 400 mark was reached.

He mentioned his fears to umpires Mel Johnson and Tony Crafter when a group of about 50 spectators – standing near the WACA ground scoreboard – starting singing songs synonymous with violent scenes at England soccer grounds.

But Willis, the umpires and 20 police were powerless to stop the appalling invasion of the ground at 4:26 pm which ended with Alderman and two policemen in hospital, 25 arrests, a walk-off the field led by Australian captain Greg Chappell and a series of bloody brawls.

Alderman suffered a dislocated right shoulder and nerve damage to his right upper arm after he chased and tackled a youth, who had hit him on the head during the invasion of the ground. Alderman’s immediate cricket future is in doubt.

A 19-year-old youth, Gary Charles Donnison, of Gosnells, near Perth, has been charged on two counts including one of assaulting Alderman. He is expected in court today.

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