Phil Williamson is a familiar face to anyone who has anything to do with the Washington Park or Prahran cricket clubs, and rightly so!
Phil has been honoured by the Victorian cricket community at the MCG during the recent Boxing Day test for 50 years of service to cricket in Victoria. This is a phenomenal achievement which, mind you, is still very much a 'work-in-progress'.
This service has included the St Leonards, Mt Waverley, Washington Park and Prahran cricket clubs.
Phil is a life member and former president at both Washington Park and Prahran.
At Washington Park he took on multiple committee roles, often at the same time. He grew the junior program there from 1 to 6 teams, oversaw the redevelopment of the club's new pavilion, and introduced many new awards to the club, plus the current club song.
At Prahran, Phil has had multiple roles on the club committee, including two stints as club president. As the club's Infrastructure Manager and key liaison point with the Stonnington Council, he has overseen the redevelopment of Toorak Park, including the new electronic scoreboard, development of the new practice nets off the main oval, and the current major works including the oval redevelopment, new lights and the new pavilion.
The relocation of the men's third and fourth eleven matches away from Como Park East to their current location at Righetti Oval can also be counted as a major achievement.
And did we mention 'turf'? We think Phil is a closet groundsman as he loves cricket wickets and the black arts associated with their preparation, just ask him! And if you wondered about who it was that got up at 5:00 am on Saturday morning to get the covers off and the run ups dry at Toorak Park just so you could get your game in, well it was probably Phil.
Congratulations Phil for well-deserved recognition of the many years of dedication and hard work that you have contributed to make cricket better in our True Blues' community.