Behind the scenes impact felt as Toowoomba cricket grows
sean.teuma@thechronicle.com.au
Sometimes the voice behind the scenes can be one of the most influential.
That is certainly the case with a portion of the cricket scene in Toowoomba, with Tony Anderson being recognised as The Chronicle’s first unsung hero.
A long-time committee member of the HighfieldsRailways club, representative coach and co-founder of the Darling Downs Bush Bash League, Anderson’s impact on the Toowoomba cricket scene has been immense.
“Tony is just an unsung hero. He never seeks the limelight, whether its for his home club of Highfields-Railways, rep cricket with Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, or the DDBBL, he just gets it done,” DDBBL co-founder Kent Reimers said.
“He’s such a great support person, and things like the DDBBL wouldn’t happen if Tony wasn’t in the background working out how we do things.
“I get a whole lot of credit and attention, but just because he’s not the one talking to the media, he does just as much, if not more than I do.”
Toowoomba has had a resurgence in the representative scene in recent times, including back-to-back Scahefer Shield victories.
Reimers said without the contribution of the likes of Anderson in getting the team prepared, this mightn’t have happened.
“He jumped on board with me about three years ago with Darling Downs and Toowoomba rep cricket,” he said.
“Tony is there doing the stuff that needs to be done to ensure the players can just go out there and play the best cricket they can.
“He’s straight to the point and such a valuable asset. People need to understand that it isn’t as easy without him, and the success that Toowoomba has gained over the years has so much to do with Tony. It shows through the results.
“He’ll be there, and his wife
Gaylene will be scoring. They’re selfless people that don’t crave the limelight, they just want to help cricket be as good as it can be.”
The DDBBL had its inaugural year in 2019, and Reimers said it was a conversation between the pair that lit the fuse for the revolutionary country cricket concept.
“We’ve been together through this right from the start of it all,” he said.
“We were watching a club cricket game and he asked what can we do to reinvigorate Toowoomba cricket.
“From that moment we hatched the plan for the DDBBL.
“Even his contribution to Railways, he attends most games as a mentor behind the scenes. He’s a great clubman.”