Emigrants Raise A Toast

So you’re thinking how good it must feel to be English and in Australia right now with the Ashes just retained…..

Well, we have come up with a full line-up of former Wolves players – complete with coach – who currently live in the country.

The emigrants include two Aussies in Steve Corica and Kevin Muscat and are stretched out from the Barrier Reef coastline in the north east to Perth in the south west.

But most are resident in and around Melbourne, where Andrew Strauss’s side established an unbeatable 2-1 series lead in the early hours of today.

Here, in a 4-3-3 formation, is our Wolves Down Under team, with the cities they are close to:

Dave Maclaren (Melbourne); Joe Wilson (Melbourne), Kevin Muscat (Melbourne), Brian Law (Perth), Mick Hollifield (Sydney); Steve Corica (Sydney), Bertie Lutton (Melbourne), Willie Raynes (Melbourne); Darren Roberts (Melbourne), Peter Withe (Perth), Alun Evans (Melbourne). Substitute: Gary Cutler (Cairns). Coach: Brian Garvey (Melbourne).

We haven’t had to look across the water to New Zealand, where we could have hauled in Fred Goodwin, Ricki Herbert, Neil Emblen and Darren Bazeley.

Nor have we had to name Wolves Heroes’ John Richards, who has strong family connections Down Under and who has special reason for celebrating England’s success.

“Our son-in-law’s mum Helen is a fanatical cricket fan from Geelong, near Melbourne, and we see her when we go visiting over there twice a year,” John said.

“After we won over here in 2005, I took her some first-day covers commemorating England’s triumph and she returned the compliment when they whitewashed us 5-0 about 18 months later.

“She offered me hers back then as she thought anything celebrating an England victory was in danger of taking on rarity value!

“But I suspected when we were over there this November that they weren’t so sure of their team winning.”

During his latest visit, Richards went to watch Tiger Woods unsuccessfully trying to defend his Australian Masters title at the Victoria Golf Club, only five minutes from the home of his and Pam’s eldest daughter Kim. 

He would have tried to watch a day of the cricket as well had the Test coincided with their trip but he has made more than one visit to the world-famous MCG.

“I saw Kevin Muscat score the only goal of a World Cup qualifying match with a penalty there a few years ago,” he added.

“And, through my Pitchcare work, I arranged a visit through the stadium manager and had a good look round.

“It’s a wonderful area for sport, with the Rod Laver tennis arena close to the cricket and football grounds.”