The annual MCC Sporting Sections dinner was held last night at the MCG which saw Barry Nugent awarded the prestigious Hans Ebeling Award.
Introduced in 1981, the Hans Ebeling Award honours those who have given outstanding service to the Club’s sporting sections.
Presented by President Michael Happell, Nugent received the Hans Ebeling Award for his contribution to the MCC Lacrosse section, an association that has lasted over 32 years.
Having played many years at the top level, Nugent has continued to play in the lower grades and will play his 450th game next season.
In addition to playing, Nugent has sat on the MCC Lacrosse committee for the past 27 years, spending eight of those as chairman (2004-2011). During his time as chair, the senior men’s team won the premiership in 2005 and the seconds won in 2010.
Nugent, or Nudge as he is called in Lacrosse circles, was responsible for overseeing the inception of a women’s team which has continued to flourish 13 years on. He has also coached the women’s team for the past three years.
All of the MCC’s 14 sporting sections were represented at last night’s dinner with players having reached MCC milestones recognised with either the Club tie or pin.
Those players were:
Malcolm Chiverto - Baseball
Culum Bennington - Bowls
Sam Harper - Cricket
Alistair McCooke - Cricket
Jonathon Bretherton - Hockey
Tegan Brown - Hockey
Alex Neilson - Lacrosse
Matthew Bate - Melbourne FC
Max Gawn - Melbourne FC
Bernie Vince - Melbourne FC
Jack Viney - Melbourne FC
Ben Gearing - Squash
James Poynton - Squash
Andrew Fiek - Target Shooting
Steve Sayers - Target Shooting
ABOUT HANS EBELING (1905 -1980)
As a promising 16-year-old cricketer at Caulfield Grammar School, Hans Ebeling was awarded an "Exhibitioner's Ticket" (two years' honorary membership of the MCC) in 1921 to commence a 59-year association with the club as player and honorary administrator/official.Hans was an upright man - physically and ethically - and few people in our long history have matched his zeal and loyalty to the MCC on and off the field. When elected to the presidency, he had been a committeeman for 45 years (1934-79), including 24 years as a vice-president.
Tragically, Hans died aged 75 within his first year of office as MCC president.
However, Honorary Life member (1959) Ebeling had long since left his imprimatur on club activities as a fine cricketer at club and first class levels, chairman of the MCC Bowls Section (1963-75) and a dominant figure in the conception and staging of the Centenary Test on the MCG in March 1977.
In retirement from a vocation which often had denied him the necessary time to fully develop his cricketing talent, Hans devoted his leisure hours exclusively to club matters.
He introduced the MCC's volunteer guides (1977), supervised the expansion of the pictorial collection and produced an authoritative research document on the pre-history and subsequent formation of the Victorian Cricket Association.
The career highlight of fast-medium bowler and lower order batsman Ebeling was his selection for the 1934 Ashes-winning Australian tour to England.
He performed creditably in his only Test, the fifth and deciding Test at The Oval, claiming the great Walter Hammond as the first of his three wickets and scoring a valuable 41 batting at number ten in Australia's second innings. For Victoria (1923-38) he captured 117 wickets at 31.17 with best figures 7 for 33 (inc. hat trick) against Queensland in 1928-29.
A firm tactician and strong disciplinarian, Hans led Victoria (1934-38) to two Sheffield Shield wins in four seasons and as skipper (1932-39) guided MCC to five VCA premierships. He won the club's bowling average seven times, enjoying his best season in 1932-33 with 62 wickets at 12.01.
Click here to view previous Hans Ebeling Award recipients.