Victor Richardson one of South Australia and Australia's greatest sports allrounders in the 1920s and 1930s
Victor Richardson as a star Australian football player for Adelaide's Sturt club and going into bat for Australia at a cricket Test with Stan McCabe.
Victor Richardson was one of South Australian and Australian sport’s greatest allrounders in the 1920s/30s. Best known for his 19 Tests as a cricketer (including captain) and the cricketing dynasty he helped create as grandfather to Greg, Ian and Trevor Chappell, Richardson excelled in other sports, representing South Australia in baseball (1921), golf and tennis (state champion), an a leader in lacrosse, gymnastics, basketball and swimming.
Richardson’s other predominant sport was Australian football. In a career (1915-27) interrupted by World War I, Richardson won the South Australian National Football League’s highest best-and-fairest individual honour, the Magarey Medal, while captain/coach of Sturt club in 1920. Playing centre or centre half-back, he was involved in Sturt premierships in 1915, 1919 and 1926, coach between 1920 and 1924, and captained the state team 1923-24.
Richardson was born in Parkside within Adelaide’s Unley area. After attending Kyre (later Scotch College), he worked in the South Australian public service but devoted his energy on Saturdays to successive matches in different sports.
A talented right-handed batsman and rated the best fielder in the world, Richardson made his first-class cricket debut for South Australia in 1918-19 and captained the team 1921-35. Over 20 years, he played 184 matches for Australia and South Australia, scoring 10,724 runs, including 27 centuries and averaging 37.63. He took 211 catches (at 1.15 per match) and made four stumpings as a stand-in wicketkeeper.
Richardson’s Test batting inconsistency puzzled many. Selectors omitted him, except in the 1932-33 bodyline series, where his fearlessness was valued as vice captain. (South Australia's press had campaigned for him to be captain, though his part in Citizen's Defence activities during Port Adelaide strike tarnished his image with some.) During the Adelaide Test, English manager Pelham Warner came to the Australian dressing seeking an apology from the player who called Harold Larwood a bastard. Richardson, who had answered the knock on the dressing room door turned to his teammates and asked: "Which one of you blokes mistook Larwood for that bastard [Douglas] Jardine?" But Richardson claimed he was “the only Australian player with a say” opposing the Australian Cricket Board of Control's cable alleging unsporting conduct by the English team.
Highlight of his Test career was captaining Australia in South Africa in 1935-36. He played his final Test at Durban in 1936, aged 41, and took five catches in the second innings, setting a Test record.
Richardson was appointed South Australian coach in 1949, replacing Arthur Richardson. Later, as a cricket broadcaster, he teamed with former England captain Arthur Gilligan. In the 1950s Richardson was sporting editor of radio 5AD, then returned to the Australian Broadcasting Commission for commentaries on radio and television.
