Respected former SCG and MCG Curator dies

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September 17, 2013

Bill Watt, the former Head Curator of both the Sydney Cricket Ground and Melbourne Cricket Ground, has passed away aged 95.

Watt was the Sydney Cricket Ground's fifth Head Curator, serving in the role between 1951 and 1958 after first joining the SCG staff as an assistant groundsman in 1935, aged 17.

After serving with the RAAF during World War II, Watt returned to the SCG and was appointed assistant curator to Wally Gorman in 1947 and took charge of the grounds preparation when Gorman was diagnosed with cancer.

Following Gorman's death in December 1950, Watt was officially appointed Head Curator in April 1951.

Watt was renowned for producing top quality cricket pitches which were fast, grassy and true.

So admired was Watt, former Test batsman and columnist Sid Barnes wrote Watt could "make couch sprout on grandpa's bald pate."

Watt was lured to the MCG in 1958 and received what was believed to be the highest salary ever paid to a cricket curator in Australia. He remained MCG Head Curator for 20 years.

When former Australian Prime Minister and cricket lover Robert Menzies saw Watt at the MCG, he was known to say, "ah, Watt the fellow we pinched from Sydney."

Prior to the 2006 Test between Australia and South Africa, Watt and former Australian Prime Minister John Howard inspected the SCG pitch and exchanged stories about Earlwood, where Howard grew up and where Watt lived after retiring from the MCG in 1978.

Watt was succeeded by Athol Watkins as SCG Head Curator in 1958, with Watkine remaining in the position until he retired in 1984.

The SCG's current Head Curator, Tom Parker, was appointed in 1997.

Watt passed away in Canterbury Hospital on 11th September and will be privately cremated.

Image: Bill Watt (left) with former Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the SCG.

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