PETER CREEVEY

Your Name.....Peter John Creevey

DOB.....16-06-1946

Place of Birth.....Brisbane

Where you first started playing Squash.....Boomerang Squash Club

Your Fondest Memory of the time.....

Joined Boomerang Squash Club, as a fresh faced skinny kid, I was about 18 or 19 and looked about 16, I know because it seemed like an eternity before I could get served in the pubs. I just loved playing squash, practice Tuesdays, play Thursday practice Sat and Sunday mornings, socialize Sat and Sunday arvo's.

Looking fairly young and innocent, Joe for my first season threw me in E1 with Laurie Pashley. He was a father figure or mentor or something, that was the start of a life long friendship with Laurie and his wife Colette, and may I say with the people of Boomerang Squash Club itself.

Your best achievement on court, as most of us wouldn't have won Open Titles or represented the State, maybe list some of your Pennant wins or Club Titles.....

My Pennant wins at the club were in C4, B1, and again in B1 a few Seasons later and finally in B3 and that was at the Gabba. In 1981, was the 2nd Division runner up in the club championships and in 1982 won the 3rd Division Plate event. In the Club Handicap tournament, in 1980 was the 2nd Division Runner up, and in 1981 I went one better and won the 2nd Division Event. My best achievement in my opinion would have been being a member of the winning B1 Pennant winning team in 1969.

My teammates were Barry McPhee, Graeme Stone, John Stirling and Noel Farthing, this was before the Association zoned the grades, there was A1.A2.A3.A4, then B1, virtually the 5th strongest grade in the state.

Two of the toughest opponents that I played against that year were Owen Sturgess from KSC and Tommy Kead from Wynnum, over the next couple of seasons I worked out how to beat Owen, but was never able to finish in front of Tom.

I joined Boomerang in 1964-65 and left the Gabba around 1985 having played all seasons. By that time Nardia and I were living in the Wynnum area and I played a further six years at the Old Wynnum Squash Club in Tingal road.

Did you venture into administration or coaching or refereeing or managing teams or played Masters Squash.....

I was involved in Club administration only, Ladder Secretary 1969-72. Management Committee 1975-76, Social Manager 1976-77, Club Room Manager 1977-79. I became one of the regular Raffle sellers at both the Coronation and Terminus Hotels over the years. The job that I really liked was going down to the Pub (Before we got a club room of our own), after my game and getting the grog to be drunk under the tree each night, it was a good way of getting out of scoring. I was always under instructions from Peter Prickett and a few others, not to under order.

Who do you admire as the person who has either achieved great things on court or shaped the game off court.....

This question is easy for me, the person that I most admired in the Club was undoubtedly Joe Williams, Joe was there from just after the start of the club, from 2nd season onwards Joe was Club Captain for approximately 20 Seasons, moulding it into a Strong, cohesive and competitive club, and above all a club where each member supported one another.

We had people from all walks of life, from Professors, Doctors, Bookmakers, Lawyers, Tradesman, Labourers, Clerks , Public Servants and many other occupations. Joe bonded all these different types of people together by mixing them up in the various grades and teams and somehow it worked. In all the years I cannot remember a single altercation, there was the odd gripe about team selections etc, but nothing too serious. As for players I most admired playing the game, top of the tree would have to be Dave (42) Prickett & local boy Ken Fraser who was also a personal favorite, many was the time I would sneak a stubbie upstairs (past Mrs White) to watch Dave or Ken play.

Funniest moment you remember.....

There was so many, how do you single out just one, they mostly revolve around events at the Coro and the Terminus and of course under the tree in Paul's car park. I remember from the early days when we would have post match drinks in the men's change rooms, there would be twenty to thirty blokes shoulder to shoulder in the change room drinking Pilsner cans.

If you were playing No 1 and you finished a bit late you would have to fight your way through the crowd take a shower and get changed. There was no room for shyness or modesty, I can still remember the look on the faces of some of the visiting No 1 players as they had this experience for the first time.

What are you doing now. As a lot of us would be now retired, list some facts about your working life.....

Yes I am now retired, My first real job as a 17 year old in 1964, was as a trainee customs agent for Brambles Transport, worked there for 6 years, before moving on for better money as a shipping clerk on the Brisbane Waterfront in 1970, I transferred to the container terminal in 1980, and stayed there until I retired in 1999, after 21 years of shift work, these days I am chief baby sitter for my three grand sons.

Did you get married, have kids.....

I married one of the Lady members of the squash club, namely Nardia Wilson, Nardia also had a long career with the Boomerang/Gabba Squash Club. We had 3 children Michael , Lisa, and Steven, Nardia and I divorced after 22 years of marriage.

Anything else you think people might find interesting.....

After my Squash playing days came to an end, I took up my other sporting passion and that is golf. Over the years I played lots of golf in a couple of social clubs but in 1994, I joined Wynnnum golf club and played for eight years. One Saturday I was playing in an Honor board event, and after hitting my drive on the 17th out of bounds, I still finished up in a three way tie for first, the following week we had a play off, but I could not reproduce my form of the previous week, and did not win the playoff. Reflecting on what I have written about my sporting career, I've come to the conclusion that over the years there was a serious problem with my training programme. I had allowed Mr Fourex to have way to much influence on my performances, as my mate Head would say (I was over trained).