For cricket tragic Margaret 'Maggs' Pemberton there's no better place to be on a Saturday afternoon than sitting up on the pavilion overlooking Uni Oval.
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For the past 35 years on most Saturdays during the Cricket Illawarra season that's exactly where she has been in her role as scorer of University first-grade games.
But her journey with the Students started 10 years earlier when she joined as a player in the 1977-78 season.
"I went to [UOW] and ran into some guys at a bar on campus and they had just finished their AGM. I used to play cricket in Sydney but there weren't any women's teams in those days so I started playing with them in 1977," Pemberton said.
She played in 146 games, most, if not all, were two-day games.
It was while playing for Uni that Pemberton would meet her now husband John Pemberton, who himself has been involved with the Students for 50 years.
The couple have dedicated their lives to the club and cricket in the region and have no children.
"Our boys are the cricket teams we've seen and played with over the years," Pemberton said.
"I'm old enough to be their grandmother but they still treat me as one of the boys, it's wonderful."
Made a University life member in 1994, Pemberton has served as the club register and sponsor for many seasons.
She has also recorded player statistics since 1982 and produces the club's annual report.
Pemberton has also been treasurer of the club for the past 18 seasons and is the current Cricket Illawarra treasurer.
But it's her role as scorer she has enjoyed most.
It's believed she has been a scorer at almost 700 games, during which she has seen "many fine" cricketers and individual performances with bat and ball.
"A lot of the friendships we've made are highlights for me but there have also been a lot of good games of cricket we've watched and been involved with," Pemberton said.
"I remember a game at Figtree Oval, a young Thaun Stanham smashed 235 odd runs, including one of the biggest sixes you'd ever see into the second bowling green at the west end of the oval."
Pemberton, a self-confessed cricket tragic, has won four club persons of the year, the most of any at Uni.
"I love cricket, I'm a cricket tragic, absolute tragic, give me a game of cricket and I'll watch it," she said.
"Sitting up on the pavilion overlooking Uni Oval, there's no better place to be on a Saturday afternoon.
Sitting up on the pavilion overlooking Uni Oval, there's no better place to be on a Saturday afternoon.
- Margaret Pemberton
"I love the camaraderie of being part of a club, the boys and girls are friendly and enthusiastic and it keeps me young and friendly and enthusiastic I suppose."
On the field University have enjoyed a lot of success in recent seasons, winning the Twenty20 competition in 2019/20 and the 2021 seasons.
They also won the one-day competition in 2021.
This season's young side were beaten by Northern Districts in the final of the Twenty20 grand final and they currently sit in fourth-place in the one-day competition ahead of Saturday's round 10 sroush against Port Kembla at King George Oval.
There are two other mouth-watering contests on Saturday, Wests Illawarra hosting Balgownie at Figtree Oval and reigning Twenty20 champions Northern Districts battling competition leaders Wollongong at Hollymount Park East.
In the other two matches, Keira play Dapto at Keira Village Park and Helensburgh play Corrimal at Rex Jackson Oval.
Pemberton is not one for comparing University sides from different seasons, but likes what she sees from the current crop of players.
"Over the years we have had a huge turnover of players, being students they come and do their degree and go home or get a job somewhere. This year we've got a very young side and it is looking promising."
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