Gabba’s greatest mystery solved: ‘We put the piggy in the middle’ of an Australia v England ODI
Enough of the porkies. After more than four decades, it’s time to tell the real story of a determined couple of mates who took a little piggy to an Australia v England ODI at the Gabba.
Enough of the porkies. It’s time to tell the real story of the little piggy who went to the Gabba.
The 43-year-old secret story behind the Gabba’s most infamous pitch invader – a pig – can be revealed, appropriately as the English cricket team returns for the second Test of the summer at the same ground this week.
Back in the summer of 1982-83, a pig with the names “(Ian) Botham’’ and “Eddie (Hemmings)’’ was released at the Gabba during a 50 over match between Australia and England which, even though Australia won easily, was so uninspiring the pig’s appearance became the “crackling’’ story of the story.
Despite occasional whispers that the group was from NSW’s Northern Rivers region, the identity of the organisers – and the story behind the pig – has remained an enchanting mystery. Until now.
Participants Graham Johnson, who now runs a building supply firm in Kyogle, and Lismore farmer and race horse owner Ian Crawford have revealed the full story behind the rip-snorting escapade, from the location of the pig outside Lismore, it’s bold transportation to Brisbane on top of a bus, an unsuccessful attempt to sneak it over the ground’s eastern fence before smuggling it in in a broccoli box under the noses of a watchful police officer.
All of this yesterday brought a smile to the face of the great all-rounder Botham, in Brisbane for the Test, who said “that was one of the funniest things that happened in my career’’.
Crawford said: “It was a left-field idea – it was going to be a boring day at the cricket and we decided to do something completely different.’’
Johnson added: “It was about a dozen mates between about 22-24 who all used to live in Lismore and most of us went to school together.
“Initially they were talking about a wild pig but someone suggested it could chew someone’s leg off.’’
Among the group were a greenkeeper (who drove the bus), a policeman’s son, a school teacher and a few builders.
“That group of blokes were never in any trouble,’’ Johnson said. “They just liked having a beer and having a bit of fun. There was no harm done.’’
THE ROAD HOG
Before setting the pig loose they had to find one. The mates chipped in $5 each and found a farmer outside Lismore who had some for sale.
“I went out and got the pig but initially the farmer wanted to give us a really big one which did not fit inside the crate so we went for a smaller pig,’’ Crawford said.
The group of mates hired a mini-bus from Simes Brothers who have been servicing Lismore area since 1952 and, crucially, it came with a roof rack that could carry its precious cargo. The group met at the Lismore Post Office at 6am and off they went, painting the pig with the names of Botham and portly spinner Hemmings.
“We had the time of our lives overtaking the buses with this pig on the roof,’’ Crawford said. “Honestly the looks on the faces of the people as we were driving past is something I will never forget.”
Johnson agreed: “We would pull up at a set of traffic lights and you could see people looking up and thinking ‘what the f---- is that up there?’
“We stopped off for a pit-stop at Cooloongatta gave the pig a drink of water and a light spray with the hose which washed his droppings over the roof of the bus which suddenly smelt like the pig.’’
THE WHOLE HOG
The group met a person with veterinarian experience in Brisbane who gave them two needles, one to effectively put the pig to sleep to enable it to be slipped inside the ground, another to eventually wake it from its slumber.
But getting him into the ground was a tricky process. Initially they tried to have some members outside the eastern fence and one in the Gabba grounds in the hope he could be tossed over the fence in a Hessian bag. But that was foiled by a policeman.
“Just as we were about to do it the policeman saw we were trying to pass the bag over the fence,’’ Crawford said.
“He thought the guy we had inside the fence had jumped the fence but he hadn’t. He got arrested. I had a needle down my sock to wake the pig up so I had to get out of there.
“It was clear we had to find another way of getting the pig inside the ground.
“My other mate Shane Wilson hatched a plan to go to the Chinese seafood shop and we put him in a esky with all the scallops and king prawns. We put him in foil with an apple in his mouth and closed the lid.
“The policeman at the turnstyle said ‘What have you got in the esky?’ and we said it was a pork and seafood smorgasbord.
“The policeman said ‘let’s have a look’. He poked the pig in the head and said ‘are you sure that’s cooked?’ We said ‘he should be ... we boiled him for eight hours’.’’
With their bacon saved, courtesy of the second needle, the pig woke up but that caused immediate problems because he started to grunt.
“When he woke up there was a bit of chaos and we had to let him go on the field. A policeman (former Broncos trainer Ken Rach) caught him and an ABC commentator said ‘a pig has got the pig’, which caused a bit of controversy.
“Over the PA system all afternoon they said “would the owner of the pig (later rehomed to a property outside Brisbane) come to the pavilion. There was no way we were going down to the pavilion.
“We drove home and I remember we called into a service station and a guy started talking to us and said ‘did you hear about the pig at the cricket?’
“I put my fingers under his nose and said ‘smell that’.”
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Originally published as Gabba’s greatest mystery solved: ‘We put the piggy in the middle’ of an Australia v England ODI
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