YABBA
CRICKET’S LEGENDARY BARRACKER

Richard Cashman

Walla Walla Press, Sydney, December 2015

Limited edition (104 pp.) of 70 copies numbered and individually signed
Illustrations • Appendix • Notes • Bibliography
ISBN 978-1-876718-23-7
$130.00

Paperback and epublication
Illustrations • Appendix • Notes • Bibliography
ISBN 978-1-876718-24-4
$35.00

Order this book.

Yabba was a genuine talent, a wit, an actor and a crafter of words, who possessed a booming voice. He was the ultimate self-publicist, who promoted himself as the ‘one and only Yabba’. Yabba lived to barrack.

Yabba was a serious student of cricket watching the game intently, his interjections being mostly informed and fair-minded though they were occasionally quirky. He was a simple man who enjoyed drinking beer, smoking, gambling, cracking jokes, family parties and watching and talking about sport. He had a vast appetite for life fighting in the Boer War, branding cattle in the outback and sparring with star Indigenous boxer, Jerry Jerome. He was an adventurer and a knockabout individual who did not mind getting involved in a fight.

Unlike other barrackers and characters, his reputation has not diminished over time, Yabba being immortalised in bronze at the SCG in 2008. However, there is no longer space.

CONTENTS

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. In search of Yabba
2. Yabba’s life
3. Barracking
4. Yabba the journalist
5. The ‘one and only’ barracker
6. Immortalised in bronze
7. Understanding Yabba
Appendix ‘Yabba takes his seat’
(A play, written by Rodney Cavalier, which was performed at the unveiling of Yabba’s sculpture)

Notes • Bibliography • Index

Richard Cashman

Richard Cashman has written and edited 12 cricket publications, the most recent being The Demon Fred Spofforth (2014). As the manager of Walla Walla Press, he has edited and published a number of cricket works including biographies of Jack Marsh and Tibby Cotter. He is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney.

Cricket publications by Richard Cashman
(as sole author)

’Ave a Go, Yer Mug! Australian Cricket Crowds from Larrikin to Ocker, William Collins, Sydney, 1984.
Australian Cricket Crowds: The Attendance Cycle, Daily Figures, 1877–1984, History Project Incorporated, Sydney, 1984.
The Demon Fred Spofforth: The Architect of the Ashes, Walla Walla Press, Sydney, 2015.
The “Demon” Spofforth, NSWUP, Sydney, 1990.
Patrons, Players and the Crowd: The Phenomenon of Indian Cricket, Orient Longman, New Delhi. 1980.
The Red and Blue Wickies: 50 Years of the Randwick CYM Cricket Club, Walla Walla Press, Sydney, 2007.

(in collaboration with other authors)
(with Max Bonnell and James Rodgers), Making the Grade: 100 Years of Grade Cricket in Sydney, 1893–94 to 1993–94, NSWCA, Sydney, 1994
(with Warwick Franks, Jim Maxwell, Erica Sainsbury, Brian Stoddart, Amanda Weaver and Ray Webster) (eds), The A–Z of Australiam Cricketers, OUP, Melbourne, 1997.
(with Warwick Franks, Jim Maxwell, Erica Sainsbury, Brian Stoddart, Amanda Weaver and Ray Webster) (eds), The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket, OUP, Melbourne, 1996.
(with Stephen Gibbs), Early Cricket in Sydney, 1803 to 1856 (by Jas Scott), NSWCA, Sydney, 1991.
 (with Amanda Weaver), Wicket Women: Cricket & Women in Australia, NSWUP, Sydney, 1991.