Ask pretty much anyone who is involved with the Bellarine Peninsula Cricket Association who comes to mind first when they think of the Wallington Cricket Club and you can guarantee that most would say ‘Marc Occhipinti’.
Occhipinti plays his 350th game for the club this weekend, but it’s probably as an administrator that he has done his best work.
The club was on its knees when he arrived. It had a poor reputation among the cricket fraternity. The club nickname was the War Pigs.
Under Occhipinti’s presidency, the club now has four senior men’s teams, an All Abilities program, three senior women’s teams and a junior Blasters program.
The club is inclusive, family oriented and is now known as the Wallabies.
The club has successfully applied for grants to update Wallington Recreation Reserve and is respected among the community.
Much of that can be attributed to Occhipinti.
Much like Brendon Gale’s (at the time) absurd 3-0-75 plan at Richmond for three premierships, zero debt and 75,000 members, Occhipinti plotted something along the same line.
“I actually had put together what I felt was an appropriate five-year plan and presented it to the committee at the time four years ago and I reckon three of the committee laughed at it,” he said.
“To be honest, we’ve actually exceeded all of it. Not just achieved, but actually exceeded it so it just shows that if you get the right people involved and people start believing in what you’re trying to achieve, that anything’s possible.
“It’s been a lot of hard work and it was really tough going. I took over (as president) and the club was in a pretty bad way.
“People thought what we wanted to achieve was unachievable, but as we gathered momentum, more people started to want to jump on board, which then made life a lot easier. Look, I’m steering the ship, yes, but there’s a lot of people doing a lot of work these days.”
Occhipinti, 49, will suit up for game 350 against Barrabool in C1 Grade and 400 is well and truly on the radar, but no certainty. He is still playing well and making plenty of runs.
“I wouldn’t say definitely yes, but I’m actually enjoying it,” he said.
“Obviously all the teams are in the top four at the moment in the men’s so it’s sort of hard not to continue while there’s the prospect of greater success in front of us. Maybe it’s a ‘yes’ with an asterisk.”
