I came home from school one day when Mum told me that Dad was taking me to a cricket coaching session that Monday evening. My dad was a professional tennis coach so I had gone through childhood up until then playing tennis at the tennis centre we owned in Slacks Creek and playing age titles etc as was the norm in those days in the 1970s. It was a great life hitting lots of balls and also kicking footys with the neighbours and then one day Mum decided she would sign me up with the mighty Woodridge Junior Cricket Club. I guess they must have thought that a few coaching sessions would be the way to go to get me into my new sport so off I went with Dad in his old Holden to Bottomley Park in East Brisbane where I nervously met my mentors. Keeping in mind that I was around twelve years of age my memory is distant with specifics but some things still stand out. The venue was Bottomley Park nets which was the then home of the Easts Cricket Club and the nets seemed to be full of kids arranged into different groups with various coaches assigned to each group or individual. The main coaches were Sam Trimble and Brian Gaskell and given my age the fact that Sam was one of the most well-known batsmen to play Sheffield Shield cricket made no impression at that point. What I do remember is Brian seemingly being a bear of a man. Tall and strong and a bit scary really to a kid but also clearly a very nice man who wanted to help me become a better player.
I use the lead in simply to jolt my own memories of how I started in the sport and to hopefully encourage many others who would have been in these Monday night sessions and holiday camps to think back to a great era. Sam and Brian were true pioneers of cricket coaching in Brisbane. Only a couple of months have passed since Sam’s passing and indeed what a huge part of Qld cricket folklore he was. Great player, excellent coach, simply a real good bloke. This story though is about his mate Brian Gaskell – both ahead of their time, both stood the test of time.
Brian Gaskell played for the Queensland Schoolboys side at age twelve in a side that also contained Ron Archer who of course played Test cricket. He then attended Brisbane State High School where he joined the Eastern Suburbs club as a right arm opening bowler in the Peter Burge era. One day he was asked to throw the pads on and open the batting and hence became an allrounder. His bowling eventually changed from pace to off spin where he was a very well respected First Grade player for many years for Easts before becoming captain-coach of QCA Colts.
Brian with his team mates at Easts
In those days there was a club in the Brisbane competition called QCA Colts which was made up of players from all clubs who were deemed talented enough to play First Grade but for various reasons could not break into their own clubs side. QCA Colts always had a captain – coach to guide this young side and for five seasons Brian performed this role mentoring many fine young Qld cricketers along the way.
During these years Brian worked as a photo engraver for the Courier Mail where he was employed for twenty years during which time he married Pam. He was really enjoying his cricket involvement which by now included a role in Qld Cricket as the State Coach of Coaches which meant he travelled the length and breadth of the state mentoring future cricket coaches. This was sponsored by the Rothmans Foundation. Brian got to thinking that cricket coaching could be worth a go at doing full time and sought the advice of Jack Mclaughlin. Now Brian had to weigh up whether to risk giving up a full time paid job of two decades standing to trying to earn a living coaching cricket. He would need a partner but unfortunately it was not to be Jack. It was suggested that Sam Trimble may be keen and keen he was! The pair formed ‘Brisbane Cricket Coaching School “in 1972 and started operating out of Bottomley Park. Students quickly signed on for coaching and other coaches were found to assist such as David Falkenmire, John Stackpoole and Bob Joyce among an array of current State and Grade players of the time.
Conversations were had with the then Lord Mayor of Brisbane and cricket identity Clem Jones and henceforth undercover nets were built under the old wooden grandstand at the Gabba so the BCCS moved headquarters from Bottomley Park to cater for its growing numbers of students. As time passed and progress in the Gabba’s facilities occurred the old stand was to be demolished to make way for the Leslie Wilson Stand where a state of the art ( at the time ) indoor centre, squash centre, gym, pro shop and live in/ dormitory level was included in the plans. During the time this was being constructed Sam and Brian ran the coaching school out of the old Gabba turf nets near the old Qld Cricketer’s Club in Vulture Street with the help of their old mate Lew Cooper who managed the QCC. (Just imagine nowadays of trying to run a kids coaching clinic in the Gabba nets!!)
Back into the new facilities and away they went – The QCC Gabba holiday camps were massive and over many years just about every kid who held a bat in Brisbane would have a memory of a Gabba Camp with Sam and Brian. The highlight for me as a kid was always the 3 a side comps that were held each holiday camp where they would roll out the mats onto the old Gabba up and over the greyhound track and away we went to see who would win the title. Monday nights we would watch the dog trials before and after our coaching sessions. As we grew into young adults we continued as coaches ourselves and trained for many hours as grade players also using the gym and the squash courts. What a great environment it was for us.
Brian’s wife Pam and Sam’s wife Avon were always very kind to us young cricketers and were very hard working people. Pam was the secretary of the BCCS and she always had a smile on her face.
Brian and Pam had two children - Gayle and Mark. Gayle married former Queensland allrounder Wayne Broad and their son Ryan also played many times for Qld as a very fine opening batsman. Mark, who also played for Qld as a hard hitting batsman and who was a state selector for a few years and his wife Jenny have two sons, Dustin and Mitchell who both played for Wynnum Manly in grade cricket and are nowadays partners in the family business.
Brian with son Mark and son in law Wayne Broad
During the 1970s’ the company “Gabba” was formed and that is now the Gaskell family business which is now recognised worldwide in the field of cricket facility set ups. Originally Gabba was predominantly cricket equipment but that quickly changed after success in local netting supplies. The very first “Gabbagrass” wicket was laid on the Rope Hill ground in 1974.
Not only was Brian Captain of Easts during his playing years but he also was president and secretary of that club and of course a Life Member. He was Patron of Warehouse Cricket Association, Qld Country CA and QC Umpires Association as well being a Life member of the Gabba Trust and most recently Qld Cricket which caps off a lifetime involvement in cricket.
Brian Gaskell is now 87 years old and should look back with a smile on a great cricket journey and one where he still loves to follow the game. Always good to call in at the Gabba office to say hello to a fine coach and someone who has left a mark on my and many others’ lives.
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