Jim Forrest won seven premierships at Yambuk Cricket Club, including multiple as captain and played senior footy under former Collingwood champion Ron Wearmouth. These days he is heavily involved with a number of race horses. He goes Under the Auld Pump this week.
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JIM FORREST
AT A GLANCE
Born in the Koroit Hospital on June 20, 1963.
Wife: Marcia. Children: Annie, Emily, Bridget and Joseph.
Education: St Patrick's Primary School before going to Warrnambool CBC.
Sporting highlight: Would have to be playing cricket with Yambuk.
Jim, I note with interest you were born in the old Koroit Hospital back in 1963. Would you have any idea if there were many more babies born in the Koroit Hospital after you before the maternity wing closed?
No. I'm not sure how many more babies were born before it closed but I believe it closed not long after I was born.
Let's chat about your cricket career. Where did it begin?
It started out playing for Yambuk. I would have been 13-years-old playing cricket with Yambuk's under 16 side before getting my first senior game in 1979 as a 16-year-old. I loved playing cricket out at Yambuk. I was lucky enough to have played in seven senior premiership sides and was captain in four of those wins and we also won five one-day flags. The club was lucky to have had some top cricketers including Daryl Leddin, Dale Barker, Stephen Gleeson, Gary Bartlett and Corey Sinnott to name a few. We had a strong culture at the club back in that era. I was fortunate enough to win a couple of personal trophies including a cricketer of the year award in the old Grassmere Cricket Association but it was the seven premierships that stay in my mind. I can assure you we gave the celebrations a good nudge after each flag victory.
What was your highest score with the bat?
I got 150 not out against Woodford in one game which was special and I got four wickets for 12 runs bowling medium pace.
Jim, apart from your cricket career - did you play much footy?
I had my first senior game with Yambuk in 1980 but unfortunately I injured the ACL in my right knee and missed playing in the finals with Yambuk. I ended up going into play footy with Port Fairy when Ron Wearmouth was the senior coach in 1982 and 1983.
They would have been eventful years playing under the former Collingwood champion Ron Wearmouth. Is that a fair comment?
It's pretty right. I'll never forget when Ron was appointed as the coach he went around and visited blokes that were playing for sides like Yambuk and Hawkesdale. He encouraged the players to come in and play for Port Fairy. Ronny was a real cult figure. He had Port Fairy's Star Of The West Hotel and believe me there were plenty of big wild nights in the pub.
The strange thing was Ron would tell all the players they had to be at training on the Sunday morning in the sand hills at Port Fairy's east beach and the majority of players would turn up. Ronny was a tough coach. The club was probably unlucky not to have won a senior flag under him. We won the reserves premiership when we defeated Terang in 1982 and I played in that game and in 1983 I mixed my time playing for Port Fairy's reserves and senior side before going back out to play with Yambuk in 1984.
My footy career was over at the age of 22 after doing my right knee in a game for Yambuk against Old Collegians. Sadly, Yambuk folded at the end of 1987 but it was inevitable as young players from around the Yambuk area were moving away for work opportunities. I sort of dropped out of footy for a while because of family and work commitments but I still kept a close eye on how Port Fairy was performing before joining the committee in 2010. I had children playing netball and footy at the club so I thought I would put my hand up for a job. I ended up taking over as the footy manager which I could describe as an interesting job.
Jim, I've often thought being a footy manager at a country club would be time consuming role. Is that assessment correct?
Yes. It does take a lot of time. I would have to say one of the toughest parts of the job happened at the end of the 2011 season when I had to inform Shane Threfall that we were sacking him as the senior coach. Shane was a great bloke and still is today but I found it tough telling him the club was heading in a different direction and he wasn't part of our plans going forward. Bernie Harris stood up as coach for 2012 before we secured the services of Sam Rudolph as playing coach for 2013. The club had a sub-committee in place to find a suitable coach and Barry Farley came up with Sam. Sam was a wonderful asset to the club. He changed the culture at the club. I stood down from the committee at the end of the 2019 because of family and business commitments. I started taking a keen interest in having shares in racehorses back in 2014 and it's grown over the years.
Jim, what was the name of the first horse you got involved in?
It was a horse called Prize trained by Symon Wilde. I started to think outside the square so I got involved in a couple of syndications. Darby Racing Syndications in Sydney have been really great. I've had small shares in a few horses with them and the most notable would have to be Ozzmosis who was trained by Bjorn Baker. We had a lot of luck with Ozzmosis. He won the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington in November last year. The Coolmore Stud Stakes is a stallion making race and it was an enormous thrill to be on-course when he won the classic race with some other south-west owners including John Bushell, Mick Finnigan, Brian Wilson and Anthony Mahony. I've also been lucky to have had small shares in horses like Saunter Boy and Overpass to mention a couple.
Months ago it was said Ozzmosis was sold - can you give an idea how much money he sold for?
We'll just say an undisclosed figure but it turned into a financial windfall for his connections. Ozzmosis gave his owners a ride for their life and undoubtedly we'll all be following his progeny once they hit the track. I've got small shares in a few other horses so I've just got my fingers crossed they may win a race or two.
