Tony Edwards, affectionately known as Tank, has been instrumental in the success of cricket in Northland for 26 years.
Long after his kids moved on from their junior cricket journeys, Edwards has given thousands and thousands of hours to cricket.
Northland Cricket General Manager Stephen Cunis knows how rare and priceless having someone like Tony is.
“His efforts in developing junior cricket have been second to none. Tony has managed grounds, pitches, draws and results for various junior competitions and has coached and managed numerous teams throughout the Northland region. His attitude towards the growth of cricket has never wavered and is something to be admired,” Cunis stated.
For several years during the nineties, he did a tremendous amount of coordinating and coaching across the Northland region. Constantly being the one going under the radar, doing the work without asking for appreciation.
For nine years, from 1996-2005, Edwards organised and managed numerous Sub-Association Tournaments that included teams from around the north, and during this time he managed and coached several junior representative teams.
Edwards also looks to the future, as he puts time into developing future servants of the game.
“He doesn’t want to hold onto everything, he’s not one of those people that love and get so engrossed that they are not prepared to introduce new people into programs.
“He’s someone that does it, loves doing it, but is more than happy to help other people and get support from other people which is great, because when Tony does eventually finish, there will be a core of people that can take up and step into many of the roles he has.”
During the past 26 years of never-ending service to cricket, Tony has moved from grade to grade, assisting hundreds, if not thousands of Primary, Intermediate and Secondary School players.
If this wasn’t enough, he was also the secretary for the Whangarei Junior Cricket Board for eight years, and for the past five seasons he has been the secretary of the Northland Junior Cricket Board. Edwards has also run the score-board at domestic and international games, along with his coffee making skills in the NCA café on Saturday mornings, Tony is the kind of person every district dreams of having part of their team.
“Even to this day he still rocks up at 7-30 every morning at our local park where a lot of our junior cricket is played. He opens everything up, runs the cafeteria, puts all the stumps out, gets all the results, I just think its magic.
“From the café to the committee’s Tank is a true champion of our sport and nobody is more deserving of this award.”
Tony Edwards is the 2015/16 recipient of the Sir Jack Newman award, which recognises an outstanding junior cricket administrator for his or her past and present services to the development of junior cricket in New Zealand.
The moment the cricketing community applauded their appreciation for a man that has served Northland Cricket for the past 26 years. PHOTOSPORT
