Tuggeranong Valley Cricket Club participated in their 7th Annual Pink Stumps Day at the end of last year. An important day for the club as they hosted a T20 match to raise awareness for a very important cause in the cricket Australia community, the Glenn McGrath Foundation.
The Glenn McGrath Foundation is a not-for-profit charity in Australia that supports people affected by breast cancer. The foundation was founded in 2002 by Glenn McGrath and his late wife Jane.
TVCC proudly raised a total of $2,808.80 for the McGrath foundation. A huge achievement for the Canberra cricket community to dedicate their love for sport to help a greater cause.
Cricket ACT spoke to key Tuggeranong players, Blake Ivory, Harry Thomas, and Kyle Hyauiason, to get their views on the event and to discuss why this cause is so important to them and their club.
“Pink Stumps Day is a pretty important day for us. We’ve been doing it for many years now and we had another great afternoon. It was good to have a lot of the club there to support us too.” Ivory told Cricket ACT.
This year, TVCC wore an all-Pink Kit to promote the game. This kit was also worn in every T20 match Tuggeranong played for the remainer of the year to showcase their support for the Glenn McGrath Foundation.
“The pink kit meant a lot to me this year and representing the foundation. You always want to try and win every game; but out there, there was a little more drive to win the game.” Hyauiason stated.
Raising money and showing support throughout the year for the Glenn McGrath Foundation showcases how sporting communities not only in Canberra, but the world, are able to bring people together.
“Breast cancer is such a female affecting area. So, when you see a group of men going out of their way to do something like we did, I think it shows how empowering and how it brings a community together.” Thomas said.
“I think sport plays a very crucial role in tough situations like this where we can all rally together, raise support and awareness, and help those out who are doing it tough.” Ivory added.
The Glenn McGrath Foundation has had the support of the Tuggeranong Valley Cricket Club over the last seven years, due to a past club member who was directly affected by the disease. They seized the opportunity to raise awareness and have proudly done so ever since.
Having a couple of hundred people come out to Chisholm to support the cause and cheer on the boys was a massive Canberra community effort in funding for this cause.
“As you can see from that Thursday night, there were two to three hundred people here watching a game of cricket with a bunch of nobodies running around, but they were there to raise awareness and support.” Thomas stated.