It is a fitting honour that on Sunday, the cricket nets at Moama Recreation Reserve were renamed the Ogden Family Training Facility, in recognition of the service the family has provided.
“Just speaking on behalf of family, we were honoured,” Michael, the youngest of the five brothers, said.
“Being involved for such a long, long time, we are very proud.”
Michael paid tribute to the services of his father, Jim, and mother, Mary, who played an instrumental role in keeping the club afloat.
“Mum and Dad were pivotal in their involvement with the club and spent many years working behind the scenes,” he said.
“It’s just a very proud moment for the family.”
Jim Ogden was regarded as one of the best wicketkeeper-batsman in Victoria when he joined Moama in 1972, having played at district level and even represented Country Victoria against international sides such as England, New Zealand and South Africa.
The family patriarch continued his involvement well after the glory days of claiming the club’s inaugural A-grade premiership, serving the club through roles as a curator, coach and executive, earning life membership.
Mary was just as instrumental to the club, acting as hostess on match days, even staging club Christmas parties and presentation evenings at the family residence.
For her support and devotion, Mary was the first female awarded life membership by the club.
The five sons were extremely successful cricketers in their own right, with Phillip, who claimed 12 wickets for the match, including a hat-trick, in the inaugural A-grade premiership, also earning life membership.
Glen played alongside Phillip in that final, top scoring with 36 in the first innings.
John claimed 6/20 to earn man-of-the-match honours in the club’s first junior premiership, which he captained, while Allan claimed eight premierships in his time at the club, a steadfast opening A-grade batsman in a dominant period for Moama.
Michael made his way through the grades to eventually open the bowling in A-grade, earning career best figures of 8-29.
Through his profession as a greenskeeper he is still involved with the club, having established the current pitches, and has been performing a curating role since his junior days.
“All of us younger brothers would get dragged along to roll the wickets, do the watering, marking up, and as Peter (Hacon, who spoke at the unveiling) said, you didn’t get a lot of help,” he said.
“Obviously barbecues, presentation days, the family was heavily involved in, there was not much of a part that the family didn’t really do, from afternoon tea to preparing eskies for drinks and so forth.
“Us kids spent hours and hours and hours at the cricket wickets rolling and watering, which as you can imagine when you’re young, is a very boring job.”
With many countless hours spent volunteering at club, whether it be organising the afternoon tea or picking up turf for the new wicket in the back of a horse float to save the club the delivery costs, as Jim did, the Ogden family has always been prominent at the Moama Cricket Club.
The family name is now permanently on show in recognition of the fact that without their input, Moama Cricket Club may not have survived the period in which so many clubs were forced to amalgamate.
