High brow, low ball

Andrew Mathieson
HAPPYgolucky Trevor Chappell has heard them all.
The jokes, the comparisons and the ridicule.
The Ocean Grove ABC radio personality and namesake of the former Australian cricketer also knows that one incident will be intrinsically linked to any mention of his name.
It happened on February 1, 1981, after the other Trevor Chappell bowled an underarm delivery with the last ball of a oneday international match against New Zealand.
The Kiwis needed an unlikely six runs to tie, let alone win on the wide expanses of the MCG.
While it might have still been legal dating back to centuriesold laws, under the circumstances that bold delivery was seen to be contrary to the spirit of the game.
The underarm was outlawed from cricket by the end of the season.
An unassuming 20yearold in an exploration camp in Western Australia remembers it all too well.
“I was working with stacks of Kiwis at the time and I copped more grief than you can believe,” Trevor laughs.
“For a while there, because one of our jobs was to find water to be able to run the drilling rigs, they’d throw me in every single bit of it for at least two weeks afterward.
“It was funny, it was good. I’d say there was no malice involved but I think there probably was.”
Trevor can now laugh about it now.
He has moved on from the taunts but acknowledges his namesake at least made it easier for the occasional wicketkeeper to get picked in cricket sides.
“They’d say ‘Yeah, we’ll have Trevor Chappell in our side’,” he smiles.
“Little did they know how crap I was.”
After holding down a range of odd jobs – including a builder’s labourer, a barman, a teacher, a youth worker and an actor – Trevor, 46, finally settled on a broadcasting career for the past 11 years with ABC radio.
The onetime producer has also turned his hand to hosting Overnights four nights a week during the graveyard shift.
It’s a perfect fit, he reckons.
“I catch up on sleep over the weekends but I have always been a nightsortofaperson anyway,” Trevor says.
He’s in the studio by 2am and on his way home at 6am, then back to bed by 10am, while his kids are at school, then up again at 3pm.
The night gig always gives Trevor time for a round of golf and a surf.
“To be perfectly honest, working nightshift on radio is not exactly the toughest thing to do,” Trevor explains.
“It’s a great thing to do, sitting there talking to people.
“It’s nowhere near as hard as driving trucks or working in mines.”
Trevor found his way to studying broadcasting at Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts and soon after had a parttime job as a producer at 6PR in Perth.
It was his first big break.
He and soontobewife Julia were desperate to move back to Victoria and Trevor landed a spot producing programs for ABC Melbourne regulars Derek Guille and Doug Aiton.
Trevor never imagined he would be in radio but by 2002 he captured the station’s best new talent award.
“I really wanted to become a marine biologist,” Trevor admits, “when I was at school, that is.
“I really enjoyed being a youth worker but there was a usedbydate with that.”
Trevor has since overcome any hangups about his name.
In fact, it has provided him his most memorable interviews.
“There was a play on about that incident in New Zealand and I did an interview with the guy who was playing Trevor Chappell,” Trevor says.
“And then we got hold of the real Trevor Chappell and I did the interview about that with him – it was quite a funny anomaly.”