Stephen Harold Gascoigne, better known as Yabba, (19 March 1878 – 8 January 1942) was an Australian sports fan, remembered as a

heckler A heckler is a person who harasses and tries to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes. Hecklers are often known to shout encouraging comments at a performance or event, or to interrupt set-piece speeches, with the intent of di ...

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australian rules football and occasionally for rugby league, rugby union and as ...

(SCG)

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and rugby league games in the early part of the 20th century. ''Yabba'' was known for his knowledgeable witticisms shouted from "The Hill", a grassy general admissions area of the SCG. In Yabba's era, cricket matches were watched like tennis matches, and spectators at the SCG were much quieter than today. This is the reason Yabba's comments were so clearly heard by players and other spectators. "The Hill" area was replaced with seating in the early 1990s. The new area was then formally named ''Yabba's Hill'' in honour of his colourful comments, several of which have passed into cricketing folklore. In 2007 the Doug Walters Stand and ''Yabba's Hill'' were demolished to make way for the new Victor Trumper Stand. On 7 December 2008 a bronze statue of Yabba, sculpted by

Cathy Weiszmann ''Cathy'' is an American gag-a-day comic strip, drawn by Cathy Guisewite from 1976 until 2010. The comic follows Cathy, a woman who struggles through the "four basic guilt groups" of life—food, love, family, and work. The strip gently pokes ...

, was unveiled at the Sydney Cricket Ground in ''The Hill'' area of the new stand. It depicts Yabba in a characteristic pose, one hand acting as a megaphone, in the act of delivering one of his famous interjections. Yabba was portrayed by Paul Chubb in the 1984 mini-series ''Bodyline''.

Insults

Some of Yabba's best remembered insults include: * "I wish you were a statue and I were a pigeon." * Telling a fly-swatting English cricket captain, Douglas Jardine, to "Leave our flies alone, Jardine. They're the only friends you've got here." * "Bowl the bastard a grand piano and see if he can play that instead!" * "Oh for a strong arm and a walking stick!" (at bad bowling; leg spinner Arthur Mailey, a regular victim of this one, quotes it several times in his book ''10 for 66 and All That'') * "Those are the only balls you've touched all day!" (To an English batsman adjusting his box in between overs). * "Put a penny in him, George, he's stopped registering" (To umpire George Borwick who read gas meters and emptied the cash boxes for a living, when

Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi Nawab Mohammad Iftikhar Ali Khan Siddiqui Pataudi, sometimes I. A. K. Pataudi (16 March 1910 – 5 January 1952), was an Indian prince and cricket player. He was the captain of the India's national cricket team during its tour of England in 1 ...

was scoring slowly) * "Your length's lousy but you bowl a good width!" (To an opposition bowler)

Notes

References

* * The Oxford Companion to Australian Cricket {{authority control Sportspeople from Sydney Cricket supporters 1878 births 1942 deaths Sports sculptures Sculptures of men Sports culture in Australia Australian folklore Cultural depictions of Australian people Cultural depictions of comedians