Peter Warner OAM- Winner Dick Menting Community Champion Award 2023

Peter Warner has been involved with the Camberwell Magpies Cricket Club for 67 years. Joining the club as a player at aged 14 in 1955, he was elected President on 4 separate occasions over this period. He stepped down for the final time on 6 August 2023.

Peter has been heavily involved in the growth of the club and in the Victorian Cricket Association where he was appointed a director for 13 years including 7 years as Treasurer and then 5 years as a Director of Cricket Australia. Peter was heavily involved in the instigation and development of Women’s Cricket by the governing body leading to the position female cricket holds in the community today.

At club level, as President of the former Camberwell Cricket Club playing in the 2nd tier Victorian Sub District competition, Peter instigated discussions in 1995 with the Collingwood Cricket Club competing in Premier Cricket to merge the 2 entities with the view of the Club joining the Cricket Victoria Premier Cricket competition. This would enable a direct pathway for local talent to play in Boroondara and progress their way to state and then the national team if good enough, all via the one club. The Camberwell Magpies Cricket Club came into being for the 1996/97 season.

In the two previous seasons to 2020/21 the Camberwell Magpies Club had lost financially a total of $50,000 at which time Peter again stood for the Presidency to initiate a structure to see the Club move back into good health. Under Peter’s stewardship a committee sharing the various tasks was formed, a number of 17 significant new commercial partners were engaged from next to zero involvement to an amount of nearly $70,000. In 2022/23, social membership raised $10,000 from 55 new members and social functions were made profitable.

Peter was awarded an OAM in the New Years Honours list in 2021 for Services to Cricket and AFL Football.